Anyone looking for the newest  floppy disk?

This thing is at such an amazing price, I had to share this with all of you. 

So after working a couple weeks I’ve found my job to be quite enjoyable.  If I could describe what I do, it is that I’m a “Information Technology Systems and Network Administrator”.  Being an network admin in a 300 user environment, I’d like to offer you all a bit of advice if you work in a office environment.

Do not ever save anything personal to your computer and/or “my documents”.  Most networks are setup so that your “My Documents” are actually stored on a remote server (that I personally backup everyday), sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can’t.  But rest assured, I see everything you’ve ever put on your computer.  Even your AA pledge and pictures of your wife in a bikini.

I went to the ob/gyn for the second time yesterday, John finally came for the first time. Dr. Pan, my doctor, is this ancient Chinese guy who was my mother’s doctor when
she had me. There’s and interesting yet embarrassing fun fact. The ultrasound
photo is actually from the first visit from about four weeks ago.  If you look
closely you can see the elbow and even the eyes which is pretty amazing for
something that is 13 weeks old not to mention the size of a peanut.  For our second visit he brought out a microphone and we actually heard the baby’s heartbeat. Hearing the heartbeat was beyond explanation, amazing.  Just hearing and seeing baby peanut makes this real for both of us.  We could hear something living inside me.  In four weeks on Valentines Day three days before the wedding we will get another ultrasound and probably know the sex of the baby! Talk about wedding gifts. Everything is moving by very quickly it’s hard to keep up and believe everything that is going on.      

After about 3 weeks of serious searching everyday for a good job, I found one.  Take a look at your newest Systems Analyst at Harvard Manufacturing.

My job entails working on the LAN/WAN design, network administration and support, database configuration, implementation of the Cisco systems, PC repair and design, and few other things.  I’ll be supporting a 200 user company with an IT department of 2 people:  Myself and the director of Info Tech.  It’s a pretty sweet deal in which I get to learn a lot, and it is the perfect career starter in the Network Administration world.

For those of you in the job hunt or will be soon, I’d like to offer some advice.  I posted my resume on Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com and applied for about 50 positions within my area and did not recieve much response at all.  It wasn’t until I picked up the local newspaper that I really started to get responses on my resume.  Harvard, for example, gave me a call back about 4 hours after I sent in my resume via email which was pretty exciting.  My advice?  Pick up the newspaper everyday.

It is colder than death here I agree, however most of us up here in the tundra actually wear clothing.  John, although we all love him, thinks it is okay to not wear a winter coat and walk around in t-shirts.  Now that’s his choice, but if it’s 31 out like it was yesterday I wouldn’t wear a long sleeve t-shirt and a spring jacket.  That’s just me.  Also, we keep the house at 63 and keep the fireplace on.  When we put the space heater in the room John was keeping it at a steady 90.  I promise I’m not trying to turn John into an Icecube.  I kind of want to keep him around for a little bit longer.

I think he just Hates NY not the cold.

I am so cold.  I am so cold.  I am so cold.

I can’t begin to describe how uncomfortably cold it is here.  I grew up and Georgia, then moved to Texas for 5 years, but now I am in New York.  Granted it is only about 20 degrees outside now (oooh but it’s getting colder as I write this with my numb fingers), but I the weather here I can definitely say I hate.  I don’t know how people even live up here, because I feel like a warm-Texan who was kidnapped and transported to a prison on the south pole.  Not only is the coldness bothering me, but the consistent laughing at me by native New Yorkers is making it worse when they can’t comprehend that i could possibly be “cold”.  Let me add to that… the coldness is making me miserable.

Not to mention this whole weather thing is compounded by the outrageous gas prices for heating here, so the house here stays at a “comfortable” (according to NY’ers) 60 degrees.  I had a great idea when i first moved here, which was to put a small space-heater in the bedroom and keep it at a nice 75 degrees so i could retreat to a semi-tropical region, which i was thoroughly pumped about… but unfortunately the thermostat for the rest of the house IS IN OUR BEDROOM.  No beuno there because if i put the heater in there it makes the rest of the house about 50 degrees.  Grrr. 

We’ve just updated the site with an online picture gallery.  You can navigate there under the “pages” category on the left.  There aren’t a whole lot of new pictures up because we’re still trying to find the digital camera that is stored away in a box somewhere, but you can expect to see all of our pictures and videos put up there as we upload them.

For anyone who is looking for a new photo gallery, i would highly suggest using Gallery2 that allows you to upload from your desktop using windows XP… no FTP needed unlike most other photo gallery sources.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?order_num=-1&wrn=%2D1421849317

Yesterday John and I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to register, you think that would be fun?

It actually was at first, the manager gave us a scan gun and told us to scan everything we wanted and it would be added to our wish list. He also said not to leave until we scanned 200 items.  Apparently if someone doesn’t see something they want to buy you on the list they go out and buy you crap.  So off we went, John in control of the scanner of course, straight to  the kitchen section.  45 minutes later and 80 items of kitchen gadgets we were ready to go home, but still had 3/4 of the store left to go.   We kind of half-assed it the rest of the way, but there ya go.  That’s our registry.

John really wants to get the poker table, someone buy it for him so he will shut up. I made him help me shovel…twice.

Welcome to thebluetrend.com !!  This is John posting here, but you can expect Cait to be posting very soon. 

So here’s an update:  Cait and I are now living in Johnson City, NY until about the first of August.  I’m pretty sure that everyone knows by now that we’re getting married on February 17th, which is only a mere 6 weeks away.  Let me say this:  If you’ve never planned a wedding before or been involved in doing so, it is VERY hard to do so.  From the DJ, the reception hall, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding vows… there is so much that you have to plan it’s insane.

So how am I doing here personally?  It’s alright.  Take a look at this:

Not exactly the warmest.  Last week there was about a foot and a half of snow on the ground all week.  Having grown up in Georgia (with a little snow every now and then) then moving to Texas for 6 years (with NO snow), I used to think snow was fun, but now I have no idea how I ever drew that perspective on the white stuff.  I’m a southern boy who just can’t seem to adjust to the northern lifestyle.  I even had to shovel snow for the first time in life last week, twice.

I’m really beginning to miss my Texas lifestyle and friends now.  It’s funny how you learn to appreciate something once you know you will never possibly have it again in the same capacity.  Especially your best friends, of whom I know that I’ll never be able to hang with again except on rare ocassions maybe twice a year unless we move back there, which is not very likely.  It’s kind of funny to think that at the wedding, I’ll be seeing my best friends for the last time for at least a few years, and even those people who won’t be at the wedding I won’t be seeing for longer.