« Archives in January, 2009

Happy New Year

December was full of good times and bad.

“The Bad” involved stressful work over weekends, a shower that’s falling apart, and a trip to West Texas that was cut short due to an allergic reaction that left me with swollen eyes. At work, the deadlines placed on the release of software were uncomfortably close to the holidays. There were new requirements that were added very close to the release date. I worked two weekends to make sure everything was done. The combination of the three made things a might stressful. Our master bathroom shower tiles started having cracks in the grout. To repair them, I started chipping away the old grout and ended up pulling a dozen or so tiles off the wall. The tiles were placed directly onto the dry wall without treatment which led to the deterioration of the dry wall in some places. Alexis and I are currently weighing our options of what to do, repair or remodel.For the holidays, we drove to Odessa and then to Lubbock. In Odessa, I came in contact with something that I am allergic to. My eyelids swelled up, but my eyeballs were fine. No redness, just swollen, puffy, uncomfortable eyelids and eye sockets. The drive to Lubbock was fine, but it didn’t improve my condition. It wasn’t until I went to the doctor back home that I improved. My theory is that I was allergic to Eucalyptus at my Dad’s house and the allergens stuck to my pillow where it followed me to Lubbock. Alexis has washed my pillow about three times now.

“The Good” in December actually out numbers the bad. Alexis and I had our eight year anniversary, the trip to West Texas was fun, and gifts were exchanged.Alexis and I have been married for eight years and to celebrate we bought a 42 inch HD TV. The eight years have gone by so very fast. Our trip to Odessa and Lubbock was fun despite my allergic reaction. I enjoyed visiting family and eating great food. One day that I wasn’t all puffy and had a lot of fun was with my two brothers. My brothers, Alexis, and I had an awesome time at Fast Eddie’s in Odessa. Fast Eddie’s is a pool hall that didn’t exist while I lived in Odessa. If it had, my best friend, Kevin and I would have visited it on a regular basis. After eating lunch at Rosa’s, we all played pool and darts into the evening. In all we spent about six hours there.Gift exchange this year was rewarding. I bought Alexis a portable photo light box for taking pictures with consistent lighting and low shadows. She has started using it to take pictures of the shrinky dinks she makes and may eventually sell. I also bought her a Nintendo DS game that she played a demo of a month ago, called Soul Bubbles. She bought me a Xbox 360 game called Dead Rising, two books I heard about on NPR, and a Firefly graphic novel that prompted us to have a Firefly marathon after we both read it.

Despite “The Bad” in December it ended on a good note and I resolve to never let a month go by again when I don’t update my blog. Although she hasn’t said it aloud, I believe Alexis has resolved the same for her website. Happy New Year!