Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

“They call me the workin’ man… I guess that’s what I am.”

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Friday – 08 October 2010
It’s almost the weekend.
It is my 9/80 “on” Friday… and there’s some work that needs to get done before it’s Miller time.

Speaking of work: I’ve been part of a project that has been in various stages of development and progress for a year or so. A couple of months ago, a large part of it wound up falling into my lap. To be honest, a good portion of what needed to be done fell “a little” outside of my personal experience/knowledge base. But it was mine, so there no use crying over “But, I can’t…” or “I don’t…”  (Not that there haven’t been times that I’ve wanted to say those things and walk away.)

On more than one occasion, I’ve been reminded of a song, Discipline, by Bobby McFerrin:

for those who have been trained by it,
no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful.

The lyrics are actually taken from Hebrews 12: 11 (NIV):

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Very apt.
More to the point, I haven’t walked (or run) away from the project.
And, despite the learning curve – and some frustration/irritation from learning a good number of things on the fly – it’s been a great learning opportunity.

Stray Toasters

Back to the grind…

Namaste.

Three down, one in the chamber and one to go…

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Thursday – 07 October 2010
Another NBN Thursday is upon us.
This one brings with it grey clouds…

…and ‘s birthday!

someecards.com - May you always look young enough to be rightfully scared of Roman Polanski

Last night was D&D v4 game night with and Jack and company. It was a decent encounter. A bunch of us nearly bought the farm.  (Not good.) But, we muddled through it.  I think that I have also determined that my dice have some form of performance anxiety — whenever I needed a good (or just “decent”) roll, they pretty much just rolled some “blah” number.  Thanks, dice!

SaraRules and I finished off a couple more pieces of anniversary cake as we watched the last two episodes of Mad Men‘s second season 2. Quite a few twists we didn’t see coming. And it ended with a pretty big cliffhanger. So far, I’ve been pretty good about not reading season or episode synopses of what’s coming up, so I’ve been enjoying the surprises as they unfold.

Stray Toasters

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Midweek and all’s pretty much well…

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Wednesday – 06 October 2010
Not only is it midweek…
Not only is it Comics (and Sushi) Wednesday…
Not only is it game night with and Jack…

…but it’s also my father’s birthday:

someecards.com - You're one of my favorite parents

Today would have also been the late ‘s birthday.

Last night, I hung out with , , , , Chris and Alex for a D&D 3.5 game night. We spent most of the time doing character generation and a little time having our characters meet. The campaign that Nox is setting up sounds rather engaging.

Stray Toasters

And that’s good for now.

Namaste.

“After the rain has fallen…”

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Tuesday – 05 October 2010
Work week: Day 2
Rain clouds have moved out of the valley and the sun is trying to peek through…

I just caught an email that informs me of a training session that I had forgotten about. That’s on top of another meeting, later in the day, which I did know about/remember.  Two hours that I kind of need to work on other things… gone. C’est la vie.

Last night, and Josh came over to watch the football game beat down that the Patriots handed the Dolphins. More on that in a minute. In typical Monday Night Football fashion, there was pizza and beer. SaraRules even baked cookies. It was a good evening.

Instant Replay: Football

New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins
41 – 14
The Patriots traveled to Sun Life Stadium to take on the Dolphins in the month’s first Monday night game.Early on, the Pats didn’t look too impressive, only scoring a pair of field goals in the second quarter. That was NOT the case, however, in the second half. They put up three touchdowns in the third quarter and two more in the fourth. It was almost as if they scored at will. The Pats’ special teams corps really put in a performance, including a 103-yard kickoff return for a TD to start off the third quarter.

The Dolphins, on the other hand… well… I don’t know what happened after a decent start to the game, but they just fell apart. The vaunted “Wildcat” formation did nothing for the offense. Receivers dropped balls that were thrown right to them. Chris Henne threw three (3) interceptions. They put up TDs in the first and third quarters, but that was it.

In a bitof a historic note, the Patriots scored in all but two possible ways last night:

  • Field Goal
  • Rushing TD
  • Passing TD
  • Kickoff return for TD
  • Blocked punt return for TD and
  • Interception return for TD.

The only other ways to have scored were: Safety and punt return for TD. If I remember the stat/graphic correctly, the Patriots are the only team in NFL history to pull off this feat.

It was a helluva good game… unless you happen to be a Dolphins fan.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

The Day After “One Year Later…”

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Monday – 04 October 2010
A new work week is upon us.

Today is also the birthday of my Godsister, Tammy (who kindly served as “stunt double/stand-in” for Sib-1 at our wedding):

This past weekend was good, all the way around. I “kidnapped” SaraRules to Park City on Saturday night. She was preparing to fix a dessert when I told her to grab whatever she’d need for the night. Her expression and  response:

“But… I’m making an apple tart…”

…was along the same lines as my “But, I have dinner plans,” before my bachelor party. It was classic. And off we went. It was nice to be out of the valley, if even just for the night.

Yesterday morning, we got up, had brunch at Cisero’s and leisurely made our way back home. Upon arrival, I turned on the TV to watch the Ravens-Steelers game… which, despite all ads to the contrary, wasn’t aired here.  So, I tracked the game on NFL.com’s Game Center. The Ravens beat the Steelers – in Pitt – for the first time in the last five games they’ve played there; in SaraRules’ words, it was “a one-iversary miracle!”  I agreed.

In the evening, we headed out for dinner; we went to Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. We were impressed with the Fleming’s in Greensboro (where we had our engagement dinner), and hoped that the one in Salt Lake City would be able to uphold that standard. It did. Easily. Our waiter, Daniel, was very attentive and also very helpful in helping make suggestions as to food and wine pairings. Our dinner consisted of:

  • Sweet Chili Calamari
  • Prime Ribeye (SaraRules)
  • Prime New York Strip (me)
  • Peppercorn Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
  • Sauted French Green Beans

SaraRules had a Pinot Noir, along with a sample of a Shiraz, while I had a Merlot.  For dessert, we had the Chocolate Lava Cake.  The meal was excellent.

After dinner we headed back home for a couple of episodes of Mad Men, a little champagne and anniversary cake. (Bonus points to SaraRules for having a new cake made, rather than our trying to choke down year-old, freezer-burned cake!)

All-in-all, it was a wonderful first anniversary.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
17 – 14
The Ravens traveled to Heinz Field to take on the Steelers. In their previous four trips, they had been unable to penetrate the Steel Curtain…

…but that wasn’t the case yesterday.  The Ravens came home with a win, cemented on the Steelers’ last play, by a Ray Lewis interception.

Too bad that this game wasn’t televised here… but I’ll be looking for it on NFL Network.

.

Houston Texans at Oakland Raiders
31 – 24
The Raiders fought… but wound up losing this one to the Texans.
Sorry, SaraRules and [info]1silver_seraph.

.

Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints
14 – 16
The ‘Cats headed down to the Big Easy to face the Saints… and were sent home with a loss.

.

Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns
20 – 23
The Browns beat up the big cats in this battle for Ohio bragging rights.

Sorry, and .

Stray Toasters

Back to the grind…

Namaste.

One Year Later…

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Sunday – 03 October 2010
Happy first anniversary to my lovely wife.
This has been a wonderful year.
I love you and I look forward to many, many more years together.

Today marks the one year anniversary of one of the best decisions that I have made. Ever. When I first told my friends, Bret and Dave P., that I had proposed to Sara and that she had said, “yes,” they literally both said the same thing:

Congratulations!  You lucked out!  Does… she… know that she’s getting the short end of the stick in this deal?

Both of them, despite never having met each other. With friends like these, I tell ya…

I was also blessed and fortunate enough to be able to share the day with family and friends.


Since October 3, 2009, we:

  • …got married…
  • …bought a house…
  • …have talked about the prospect of having children…
  • …have talked about our hopes, plans and dreams for the future…

I could not have found a better person with whom I can share those milestones… and with whom to find and set others.

Like the Indigo Swing song says: How Lucky Can One Guy Be?
My answer?  Pretty lucky, indeed.


How do you kick off a great weekend…?

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Saturday – 02 October 2010
So far, it’s been a good weekend.

Yesterday morning, I got to hang out with Perry and a couple of the kids.  All were well. And, since I was in the area, I popped into MRS Hobbies, as well.  I only walked out with a catalog. I had a couple of errands to run and then I met back at the house…

…so that we could head to Orem and take a tour of the ExactRail offices. had a problem with a set of rolling stock that he’d picked up and – learning that ExactRail was a local company – asked if he could come in an have it repaired or replaced. And… if he could have a tour of the facilities. He was kind enough to ping me and ask if I wanted to tag along. (I did. Duh, TRAINS!)

We met with Blaine, VP of Operations. He was very candid about the business and operations. We walked through the offices and were introduced to a few members of the staff, including a couple of their graphic designers. They told us a little about the process of going from concept to finished design work. We also got a look at their shipping and warehousing operations, as well as a (somewhat distant) view of their molding/modeling operation. At the end of the tour, Blaine presented us with a couple of ExactRail boxcars…

…one each in HO-scale and N-scale.

All-in-all, it was a very cool trip and I thank for inviting me to tag along.

After that, we had something of an adventure: I-15 northbound was congested, thanks to an accident near 90th South. So, we opted to get off the freeway at 106th South and take surface streets back to my place. And, in doing so, we drove through just about every construction project in the south-central part of the valley. Yay.

This morning, SaraRules and I got up and had breakfast at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks. It was a nice change-of-pace way to start the day. After that, we stopped at Heritage Gardens to pick up our anniversary cake. SaraRules had the brilliant idea of having them prepare a new cake for our one-year anniversary (TOMORROW!!!), rather than trying to eat year-old, freezer-burned cake. Brilliant, I say! And, next on the docket: A couple’s massage.  Mmm, relaxation. We’ll see what the rest of the day brings…

Stray Toasters

And that’s a wrap, because it’s almost massage time!

Namaste.

Welcome, October.

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Friday – 01 October 2010
A new month begins and it falls on my 9/80 “off” day.
Convergence?
Coincidence?
Serendipity?

Who knows…?

Today also marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And, as such, this blog will once again “Go Pink for October.”

someecards.com - Just let me know if there's anything I can do this month to further the cause of healthy breasts

Last night, SaraRules and I met up with Marcie and her niece and… dun dun DUNNNNN…. went to the gym.  According to the blog-a-tron, it looks as though it’s been a two (2) months since my last confession trip to the gym. And, as an added bonus: just joined our gym and may work out with us, from time to time.

Last night’s workout (courtesy of SaraRules) included:

  • Elliptical: 5 minutes
  • Leg Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
  • Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
  • Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 65 lbs
  • Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
  • Incline Chest Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
  • Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/10 reps
  • Upright Row (barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 40 lbs
  • Curls (barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 40 lbs
  • Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs

It was a good workout and a bit of a challenge, as I haven’t been in such a long time… but I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

The Legend of Chimpy
I was half-kidding yesterday, when I said that I should start a new section of the blog…

…but a few minutes ago, Minion #2 messaged me with this bit of monkeydom from Chimpy:

Is it wrong to laugh out loud if Chimpy 2.0 locked himself out of his own testing machine and then asked me if I knew the password?

Yeah.  This is the kind of thing we deal with.

I should also clarify something: The person we currently refer to as “Chimpy” is actually the second person to carry his own special monkey designation. The original Chimpy left the company a year or so ago. However, “Chimpy 2” has done a banner job of maintaining the high levels of monkey-rifficness that we came to expect from his predecessor.

Stray Toasters

And now it’s time to find some trouble to get into…

Namaste.