Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Enjoy this classic. Happy Halloween, kids!

Monday, October 29, 2012

When I get away, there is usually ocean involved...


Morning view from the apartment balcony

Recently, I was able to take advantage of a long weekend and took a mini-vacation to Palm Beach, FL.  I stayed with two of the best guys I know, Robert Rexroad and Ryan Tolley.  I am honored to be able to call these guys colleagues, but blessed to call them friends.  They were my hosts and guides around this beautiful city for the weekend.  Along with Bobby's charming lady, Elizabeth, we had a blast for the weekend, full of great conversation, relaxation, reflection and just good ol' fun.


This is a photo of the first ever mimosa purchased in Nana's Diner, 
a new West Palm Beach establishment.  
I'm always finding ways to etch my name in a record book!  :) 



We spent a little time on this yacht... wait... we spent some time LOOKING AT this yacht while waiting on the drawbridge to do it's thing for a small sailboat passing through.  I WILL be hanging out on one of those one of these days, mark my words!  Until then, a boy can dream...



This is honestly one of my favorite sites...
a beach chair in a beautiful spot, watching the ocean wash in and out, feeling the breeze, enjoying the sun, refreshing drink in hand, and a little music in the background.
I could most definitely get used to this!



Hanging out of the window at stop lights can make for pretty sweet photos...
I always get excited when the palm trees are leading the way right to the ocean.



I almost came home on Sunday, but decided I deserved one more day on the beach... 
Best decision of the weekend!

I'm a blessed man.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

New Machine, New Motivation, Ready to go!

Recently, we had a little scare... and by we, I mean "me" and host of characters that reside in my head that help me make all decisions.  The hard drive crashed on my beloved MacBook Pro!  Talk about a total freak out!  It was almost a total of 2 weeks before I was able to get to my local Apple store to assess the situation, replace my internal hard drive (which I completed personally - a great personal accomplishment, however simple it may be, because of the fear that I would create more problems by tinkering around inside), and get back to Apple to have my operating system reinstalled.

It was during our time apart, when I was totally out of commission, that I realized just how much I missed my computer.  But why?  Missing out on all of my internet television?  Yeah, okay, I'll give you that one.  But second, this very powerful tool has so many tools within it to facilitate making my dreams a reality... and I've been so distracted by my "day job" that I have allowed many of those additional endeavors to fall by the wayside.  As hard as I tried to avoid this, my work has taken up much more of my life than expected and I have not been feeding those things that make me feel alive!  Now that I am back in operation, that will not happen again!

Luckily, I have an external hard drive that I backed many of my files onto, but its been a while since that last back-up.  This led to a loss of many more of my files than anticipated. (Word to the wise: BACK-UP OFTEN!  This is a lesson I will NEVER forget.)  However, I don't see this as a setback, but this is rather a chance to recreate, refine, and reorganize.  I have all of my graduate school files - thank God! - but a lot of my entertainment collateral has been lost.  This has motivated me to grind harder than ever before... Let's get it on!

First mini goal: incorporation.