Welcome back friends. I trust you all had a Merry Christmas and are on your way to a Happy New Year. Leigh and I are trying to figure out some plans for New Years Eve so if you know of anything, let me know.

This year marked the first time in my life that I wasn't at home for Christmas. It definitely felt odd with Leigh working all day and I ended up doing pretty mundane things like running 6 miles, watching Battle Royale (not your average Christmas movie), and just hanging out. Really it just felt like another day, only one where I got to sit at home and not feel bad about not working to check things off my ever present to-do list.

Work is really slow this week since no one is here, kinda weird. Also, with the end of the year approaching look for some year-end wrap-ups in the coming days including a list of CDs I bought, shows I saw, and places I traveled to. While you might not care, putting it here is a good way for me to look back on 2006 in 10 years and remember some of the things I was into at the time. (11:52am)

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Today at worked marked the departure of my senior manager who is being moved to San Antonio as part of the merger we have underway. Although I did not interact with him daily, I did work with him closely whenever I was in Charlotte and he has given me a lot of opportunities to work with senior leaders within the company and lead some high profile merger projects. Not only that, but during trips to California and other places I was able to get to know him some on a personal level and he seemed like a great guy. He was in Raleigh today with his wife, 5 year old kid (who he adopted from Guatemala a year ago), and his dog. It's sad because I think the rest of our team got to see a different side of him today that they haven't seen in the 3 years he came to our group and probably grew to like him a lot more today. So long Director of Business Technology, so long.

Along the same lines I am getting kinda antsy at my current job. The work itself certainly is not anything to complain about, but the feel of the company I work for and the changes that are coming as part of this latest merger are not making me feel very good about my job or working here. Maybe it is just that all the senior leaders I had worked to impress and established a good reputation with are being replaced, maybe it is that I have been here 5 years and that feels like way too long to stay at one company when I am so young, maybe it is that my good friend just left the company and took a job at IBM doing something that sounds awesome, or maybe it is that I will never be compensated for getting my MBA as long as I work here because internal pay increase rules will always keep my salary comparatively low. Regardless of the reason, I am feeling some change in the air.

So who knows what the future will hold. (4:20pm)

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So I have no excuse for the lack in posting this time. If I keep it up, I am going to turn my millions of readers away.

Leigh and I went home this past weekend to spend some time with family for "Christmas" (Reminder: Leigh has to work Christmas Day so we aren't able to go home at all). It was a good time and I am glad we were able to make it home, but it will be a little weird sitting around the house by myself on Christmas Day. I may go to a movie or something, but that seems kinda sad - to go to the movies by yourself on Christmas Day.

Here is an early warning that Silent Uproar is planning our next Royal Flush party for Friday, January 26th. The bands and other information is TBA, but mark your calendars so you can come join us. (11:24am)

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On the way to work today I passed a guy standing on the side of the road holding a sign. While we have all seen peple doing this, what was unique about this guy is that he was standing outside a local Nationwide branch with a side that said "Nationwide is NOT On Your Side"...."My claim has is 3 years old and I am still waiting for an answer."

My initial reaction was to stop and go up to the guy and praise him for taking the time ot stand up for something. He is spending his Tuesday morning out at the road with a sign and holding onto the hope that he might impact just one person. Well he did, good job sir, good job. (10:44pm)

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Thanks for calling me out Jeremy Scottie P...I can't rag on other people for not updating their blogs (mom, Robbie, Grant, etc) if I am not updating mine.

So I have been in Charlotte since last Wednesday and am very ready to head home today. I came mostly for work, but also was here for to run the Charlotte Thunder Road Marathon on Saturday. I was a little disapointed with my time, but given that I hadn't run at all the 3 weeks prior to the race because of a sinus infection, I will just be happy with the fact that I finished it and managed to run not walk 98% of it. I hope to try running a marathon again someday, but it won't be for a while and it will be in a warmer place - somehow running for 4 hours in 20 degree temps doesn't sound like the smartest idea.

I think Leigh and I will be heading back to Charlotte this weekend for "Christmas" since she has to work Christmas day. It's not that I dislike Charlotte or anything, but it sure will be nice to be home for a little while.

More updates soon, including hopefully getting my Flickr badge on since I actually started using Flickr. (1:54pm)

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Well the first SU party came and went and was a success I would say. We had a good crowd, everyone had a good time, the venue was happy and wants to do another, and all the bands, DJ, etc got paid. So thanks for any of you that came up and for those of you that didn't...there's always next time.

This week should be 100% better than last week - no stress of the party to worry about, I have a big work project that is in a slow phase, and I am finally starting to feel like I am kicking my cold/sinus infection.

Good times. (11:40am)

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I try not to come on here and complain all the time about life because that can't be much fun to read. This week has kicked my ass though and I am just ready for it to be over. Fortunately I get to end the week in style as Silent Uproar will be throwing a party tonight at Kings. it should be a good time so if you are in the area then you should come out, and if you aren't in th e area then be jealous because it is going to be amazingly awesome.

 (1:18pm)

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I am going on about a week of being sick and while it looked like it was going to be a quick one at first, it is now apparent that this thing is sticking around for a while. It seems that the cold has turned into a sinus infection and while I could go get some antibiotics - I try and resist that when possible so that they continue to work when I really need them.

The biggest problem with this is that I have a run scheduled next weekend that I have been training for the last 3 months and now I have gone ove a week without running at all - not looking good.

As if coming back to work from a 4 day weekend wasn't bad enough! (3:28pm)

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Happy Thanksgiving friends. I am at home visiting the various familes and trying to take a break from the craziness at work. Hope you are doing something equally as enjoyable. (10:37am)

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For someone whose work (for their day job as well as their day/after-hours job) is largerly based around answering emails and completing tasks assigned via email, having contorl over your Inbox is a very good feeling. Right now I can say both my work and personal email accounts have less than 5 emails in my Inbox and I feel like I am actually on top of things in the digital front.

We plan to head home for Thanksgiving tomorrow night and stay through Friday. Unfortunately Leigh has to work Saturday so we can't stay through the weekend. We will get a chance to see my new baby niece though, so it will be worth the short trip. (3:54pm)

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I spent 5 hours raking/blowing leaves off our front yard and driveway today. I didn't even make it to the back yard.

Why didn't someone warn me that leaves were so evil? (11:19pm)

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Way to go Former Senator Edwards, way to go. (10:30am)

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Can someone with an inside dog tell me how you can get your dog to go outside in the pouring rain and use the bathroom? I struggled this morning with getting our dog to go out and then once she did she just stood there and tried to hide under my legs. I know she had to go, but she just couldn't focus. So I took her inside, waited, thent ook her out again, and had to stand there in the pouring rain for another 20mins before she finally went.

There has to be a better/easier for everyone way. (10:33am)

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This site is nice. (5:24pm)

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Yesterday I drove to Charlotte for the day to lead a meeting with the big wigs - the drive wasn't too bad, but it still sucks riding in the car for 6 hours in one day only to end up where you started.

This past weekend seemed like a good time to get a lot of things done and I made a huge list, but I got very little of it done. I am not really sure what I ended up using all my time for, but it is kinda disapointing that I wasn't more productive. The plans for this weekend include a pretty long run that will pretty much kill Saturday so hopefully I can get more done Sunday.

Nothing more to add today, I'm kinda tired and my brain isn't multi-tasking too well right now. (10:22am)

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I was a bit skeptical when Amy sent me a text message of her eating a taco with something shiney on her finger, but now it seems it is official, Amy and Robbie are engaged.

Congratulations to two of my best friends...I know we all knew it was coming, but this still marks a special day and Leigh and I are extremely happy for you both.  (9:54pm)

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I think listening to the right song can make you feel like you can accomplish anything. I have always used music to "power through" things whether it meant cramming for a test, getting a big project done at work, or competing in some sports event. Last night when driving home from work the song I heard made me want to go home and run since I hadn't in a while and I managed to crank out a good 10 mile run last night averaging about 8 minutes a mile. It didn't hurt that the humidity was really low and the temperaature was perfect, but I'd like to think the music played a part as well.

Oh, and hate all you want, but the new My Chemical Romance album is really good (just like the last one).

Leigh is on call right now and she has to work tomorrow so this looks to be a low-key weekend. From the looks of all the leavs on the ground, I have a considerable amount of yard work to do and there is always the normal list of house upgrades to work on. Somewhere in there I need to find some time to just chill too. I feel like I haven't spent a relaxing weekend at home in ages. Ages. Do you know how long an age is? A long time. Sorry, I didn't think you would still be reading way down this far.
 (2:33pm)

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Oops, I missed Tuesday. Where did it go?

It's beard season - do you have your beard yet? Better get growing. (10:09am)

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For some reason while I was eating lunch at my desk today I ended up looking at flags for 30 minutes or so. Mindless entertainment I guess.

Nevertheless, the did find some interesting stuff:
Angola - Violent Traces of Russia
Berlin - Dancing Red Toed Bear
Isle of Man - One Leg Too Many
Martinique - Snake Attack
Mozambique - Only Flag With Machine Gun
Nepal - Wrong Shape
Seychelles - Rainbow Bright
Chile - Too Much Like Texas
East Timor - I Like The Basic Shapes
Tunisia - This Symbol Would Make a Good Logo
Guernsey - I Like This a Lot - Yeah Knights!
Poland - Looks Too Much Like the Motherland - Indonesia (1:41pm)

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I will post updates from my trip over the last couple weeks a little at a time as I get a chance to compile and post things. Both Las Vegas and NYC were full of good times, but as yesterday's post indicated, I am very happy to be home. Now if I can get caught up on sleep I will be good to go.

To kick things off, below is a list of all the bands I saw while in new York along with links to music for each band (as much as I would like to deny the significance of MySpace, it is the easiest way for me to share music with you). I saw a lot of really good bands and made some new discoveries that I am very excited about. I tried to provide a quick rating for each band below, but off the top of my head my favorites were definitely Ra Ra Riot, Malijube, and the Archie Bronson Outfit - in that order. Keep coming back for more updates.

Wednesday
Division Day *
Fields *
IV Thieves *
Scissors For Lefty *
Dr. Dog
Cold War Kids **
Tapes N' Tapes **

Thursday
Cities *
Heavy Trash
Annuals **
Irving
Nicole Atkins
Malajube ***
Benjy Ferree
Archie Bronson Outfit ***
Forward Russia **

Friday
Heavens *
Ferraby Lionheart
Birdmonster **
Sam Champion
The Thermals **
Ra Ra Riot ***
The Horrors

Saturday
Malajube ***
Snowden
Malajube ***
American Princes
The Old Soul *
Cities *
The Carter Administration
Apollo Up **

* Good ** Very Good *** Insanely Good (11:54am)

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Boy does it feel good to be home. (5:48pm)

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This week is flying by, Wednesday already? Friday Leigh and I leave for Vegas and then next week we come back for a day and then I leave on Wednesday for New York. Busy times these days are, busy times.

Work is kinda the calm before the storm right now. I am in between projects so I have a lot of downtime and I won't be picking things back up until I get back from vacation. Sometimes downtime sucks at work because you get bored but stil have to site there and stare at a screen whether you are bign productive or not. Perhpaps that isn't something to complain about though.

Halloween is coming. Are you dressing up? What will you be? (5:28pm)

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This weekend was quite a busy/eventful weekend. First off, my brother and his wife made me an uncle Friday with the birth of Samantha Kaili Harkey (pictured above, duh). Pretty cool, but hard to believe that my brother is a dad now. I know he was ready for it and with a faux hawk like that, Sam is guaranteed to be awesome.

This weekend also included Leigh and I spending some quality time together, getting some house work done, eating at our favorite restaraunt that is actually closing this weekend for good, attending "Cindyfest" at the park - a picnic that our realtor put on, and shopping at the mall for the first time in a good year or so. Overall ery productive and gets us ready for next weekend which will be spent in Vegas! (12:30pm)

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I have been doing some asking around about original Ryan McGinness works of art and I had no idea they were quite as expensive as they are. The two paintings I was sent quotes on today were over $16k for a 44x30, which I guess really isn't that unrealstic for a well-known artist. I guess what surprised me is when I checked 3-4 years ago the same size piece was going for $6-8k. This validates my reasoning that not only would it be great to own such a piece for hanging in your house, but it also would make a great investment - assuming you'd actually be willing to sell it at some point.

 (8:42pm)

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I smell some Birthdays:

Jeremy - Happy 18th* Birthday
Amy - Happy 29th* Birthday
(* actual age may vary)

I love you both and hope you have a great day surrounded by fun things and people. If not those then I hope you at least eat some cake (4:20pm)

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Something about this picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Robbie posted today about Barack Obama, and I must admit that this is the first time I have even heard the name. Apparently I need to stay up on current events a little more because from what I read about him in a quick 15 minute search, he seems like a pretty solid candidate.

So the questions becomes, would an American public that voted George W in twice really vote for a black president? Does his race even matter in terms of his ability to win the vote? I'd like to think not, but you know very well it does.  (3:16pm)

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If all goes as planned, we finally close on our old house in a couple hours. The selling process has been a little strange since we don't have a real estate agent and the buyers have been very casual about things from actually getting their papers into the bank to responding to our emails. We were suppose to close last week and it fell through so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Should things go as planned, it will mean we sold our house without ever listing it on MLS, ForSaleByOwner or hirig a real estate agent. We simply stuck a For Sale sign in the yard and now we have a buyer paying more for the house than we thought we were going to get. Pretty sweet. Oh, and not paying an extra $1k a month in house payment and utilities will be nice too. (12:44pm)

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With October nearly half way through and lots of things planned in November (including Vegas, New York, and other random trips) it is looking like it will be the end of the year before you know it. It's hard to say whether this is a good or bad thing. Ultimately I guess it doesn't really matter as long as life is good.

Speaking of which, I recently read an article about the guys who started the "Life is Good" company - you know you have seen the shirts. Well they started by selling shirts on the street corner in Boston all Chinatown style and now they have this mega-company making something like $300 million a year. Same thing with the guy who stared Under Armour - he was a football player who got tired of having a soaking wet cotton undershirt so he bought some fabric and sewed his own shirt. His teammates picked on him so he made one for them too and then they fell in love with it. Today it is a mega company and makes shoes, etc. Stories like that blow my mind - another recent example is YouTube - someone random person(s) having a little idea and beating the odds by turning it into a big company. Are they just lucky or is there something more to it? Do we all have this potential if we push our ideas? Who knows, I am really inspired to do something but I can't seem to find the right thing. (3:57pm)

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Well I am finally back to work in Raleigh today. I took off last Friday, Monday was a Holiday for us, and I spent yesterday working in Charlotte. Jeremy came up to visit us this past weekend and then I also had lunch with him yesterday in Charlotte - probably the last time I will see that guy for a while. Even though we live in different towns now, it still felt like he was pretty close and I enjoyed hanging out when in Charlotte for work or play.

Jeremy you will be deeply missed, but at least now I have another reason (sorry I've never visited aunt Julie) to go to Denver. This post is to serve as an e-tear for you... (10:22am)

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 (7:28pm)

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I just found this picture on my hard drive - I felt like sharing. I took it at the San Diego Zoo.  (4:37pm)

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Poor Beck - he comes out with a new album with tons of bonus material and gets punished for it by the UK record industry. It seems like they would be embracing it, not turning him away. Then again, I am sure Beck could care less if he is able to make the UK charts (although I am sure his record label disagrees). (3:17pm)

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