Here is my To Do List for the rest of this week/weekend:

HOUSE
- Sand and Paint Ceiling
- Cleanup Back Yard
- Clean Out Fish Pond
- Straighten House

PERSONAL
- Install New Router
- Wash Car
- Clothes to Dry Cleaners
- Pay Storage Bill
- Go Through New Mail / Pay Bills
- Go to Grocery Store
- Deposit Checks
- Get New Cell Phone for Leigh

SILENT U
- Mail CDs to Amazon
- Pickup CDs From Storage
- Mail Albums to Reviewers
- Check-In New Albums
- Transcribe Old Interview
- Get All Interviews Online
- Email Interview Questions to Quasi
- Answer 300+ Emails
- Meet Capulets to Sign Contract (1:42pm)

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This news is huge to me. I have to run Virtual PC on my Mac because my work's VPN doesn't work on the Mac platform. To have a Mac I could boot Windows on natively would be amazing and definitely means I will be switching to an all Mac setup with my next PC purchase. (10:23am)

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I just got home and already Charlotte beckons me with everyone asking when I am going to be there again. Suck.

So there is a lot going on in the SU world these days. We are working hard on promoting Bellaparker and trying to get some press coverage for them and are in the initial stages of finalizing a deal with the best band in Raleigh, The Capulets. I amr eally excited about that and really love those guys. There is also a ton of work with hiring new staff, getting caught up with album review, planning site redesign, etc, etc that we need to get going on. Busy days for everyone.

What do Red Bull and Taco Bell have in common? Who knows.

I built my mom a blog at one point. She stopped using it after a couple months. The weird part is the last entry is when a good friend of hers died and she posted about it. A fitting last post I guess. (2:36pm)

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I am home and alive. Hopefully I won't be going anywhere for a little while and can settle back into normal life, getting our house sold, moving, etc. The next trip I know about will be India on May 11th.

The trip to California was pretty awesome. Leigh and I had a good time in La Jolla for 5 days or so and despite it being in the mid-60s, managed to enjoy the beautiful coast and just being outside in general. We went to the zoo, downtown San Diego, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, various parks, etc. Nice. Then I took Leigh to the airport on Wednesday morning at spend the rest of the week and the Mortgage Technology conference. Geeky and all business like, but still pretty cool. Lot's of freebees from vendors, boat cruises and rooftop parties with open bars and fancy food and then some general ruckus at a bar playing pool with our CTO. A good experience over all.

Now it is off to fight the good fight against email... (4:15pm)

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I have been out sick for basically 3 days now. Today I went to the "Minute Clinic" at CVS and had some random women (not a doctor) confirm that I had a sinus infection, and give me some antibiotics. Weird, but good.

So, in honor of that, here is my attempt at a SXSW rundown:

Having to been to CMJ in New York the last couple years, I kind of expected SXSW to be something like that. However, while the premise is the same (lots of bands in a few days), the vibe is compeltely different..and so much more fun.

The 3-4 days in Austin consisted of going from random day party to day party where there was always free admittance, alchol, and sometimes food. Then at night there were more free shows with free booze, etc. Really it comes down to being in the know and RSVPing to all these free events. Nearly every band that plays at night also plays free at someone's party during the day, so of all the bands I saw, I don't think I paid for a single show. Some highlights from the trip include: just hanging out with Michael, Chris Mikesell, Katherine, Cassandra, Bryan, BellaParker, Mac, and all the other lovely people whose names I can't remember; meeting the Ice Cream Man and talking it up a bit, seeing that he has been succesful at what he is trying to do, and seeing how happy the free ice cream made people; getting pulled over for not wearing my seatbelt (we had just pulled away from a parking spot and I was fiddling with something in the back seat - promise mom) only to then have the cop give Chris a sobriety test (which he passed of course), and then getting mad because Chris wasn't drunk and only giving me a warning for the seat belt; being able to see almost every band I set out wanting to see; being introduced to new bands that were great like Electric Soft Parade and the Lovely Feathers; free Vitamin Water at the Fader party; various late night meals that were only so good because it was 3am; "losing" Michael; finding Michael made it home OK after being lost; excellent lunch with BellaParker and general getting to know them better; bumping into Conor Oberest at the Lovely Feathers show; bootlegged internet access; wondering down 6th street with 50 different bars all featuring music, and on the last night, walking to find some food only to see Vaux hanging haflway out of a bar because they don't fit on the little stage and going absolutely nuts because they know people have a million choices.

Bands I saw (as many as I can remember):
Thursday
-Film School
-Spinto Band
-The Boy Least Likely To
-Voxtrot
-Editors
-Emery
-Peaches
-We are the Fury

Friday
- Bitzen Trapper
- Nicolai Dunger
- Gomez
- Dirty Pretty Things
- Head Automatica
- Islands
- Holy Fuck!
- Arctic Monkeys
- Electric Soft Parade

Saturday
- The Duke Spirt
- Rakes
- Nine Black Alps (2)
- We Are Scientists
- The Lovely Feathers
- The Sun
- Vaux
- Charlatans UK

*Really good bands in bold (7:14pm)

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Well I am alive, barely, but alive. I am sitting in the airport waiting on my flight out of Austin. It has been a long, amazing, week and I am very glad it is over. SXSW was 'pretty incredible' (as Michael would say) and i am really glad I came. I think I am taking a cold back with me because I feel like crap, but I suppose that is to be expected when I look back on the last 7 days.

I will post again with a list of all the band I saw, but for now just wanted to post something saying it was fun and I'm beat. (10:38am)

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I celebrated a Birthday today. Well I shouldn't say I celebrated because I had no cake, no party, and I worked 12 hours, but I did HAVE a birthday today. Thanks for the well-wishes from various folks.

Birthdays used to be much more exciting. Is that a sign of getting older? Your BIrthday becomes just another day? (9:05pm)

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Today is my Dad's brithday, Happy Birthday Dad.

I got in a hurry this morning and hit myself in the face with my bike while trying to carry it up the stairs. I am hoping my eye doesn't turn black because it is kinda red and swolen now.

This week if kind of the calm before the travel storm, here is my schedule for the rest of the month:

3/12-3/14 -> Charlotte, NC
3/15-Day -> Marietta, GA
3/16-3/19 -> Austin, TX
3/20-3/21 -> Charlotte, NC
3/22-3/23 -> HOME!
3/24-4/2 -> San Diego, CA

 (9:10am)

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Man I am glad it is the weekend. It looks like I am going to see The Capulets play tonight so it will be a late nght, but hopefully i can get some rest tomorrow night. I need it.

So what's new? Some people came and looked at our house last night. They seemed really interested, but you can't really ever tell. It would be nice to sell our house with very little effort. If they do buy it they said they would need to move i by the end of April, which is really really soon. That means some apartment living while we find something or a mad dash for a house, either way sounds stressful. I'd say we could start looking now, but March is crazy travel-wise. Who knows.

Oh yeah, I talked to my brother the order day and his wife is pregnant. While not entirely unexpected, it is crazy to hear that I will be a Uncle before Christmas. Wow.

 (2:00pm)

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I'm back in town, sorta. When Leigh and I flew back into Raleigh Sunday night from Nashville (which was a really good trip, thanks Michael and Mason for the place to stay) I picked up a rental car and then drove to Charlotte. I didn't get here until around 12:30am and then had to be in a 7:30 meeting. Not fun. I think I have slept a total of about 30 hours in the last 5 days. So I am still in Charlotte now and hopefully will be leaving to go home tonight. I want to sleep in my bed.

So now that Whiskerino is over, what will be the new online distraction? Maybe I will get more work done now. (8:39am)

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Off to go Bearding for the weekend, then immediately to Charlotte upon return. See you next week. (5:27pm)

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I left Leigh a note this morning asking if she would clean the litterbox out for me (I normally do it in the morning and she does it at night) because I was in a hurry. She wrote this on the note and left it for me:

"Arrrr, Pirates hate litter duty"

I love that girl. (10:19pm)

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Well I have found in the past that not posting for a while leads to people no longer coming to the site, but oh well. Last week was as crazy as expected and by Friday I was completely zonked. I haven't had a week like that since I was in school and in the middle of finals or something. I won't go into all the details (again), but sorry to anyone that I was suppose to get up with and didn't (i'm looking at you Margaret).

This week started off with a Holiday which I spent running numerous errands:

Goodwill - To drop old clothes off
Storage - To gather CDs for Whiskerino prizes
Dry Cleaners - To drop nice clothes off
Tiger Direct: To buy some RAM
Michael's - To get some framing clips
Best Buy - To buy a DVD Player
Trophy Shop - To get some plates for record plaques
Target - To get groceries

All in all a very productive day. This week will probably go by quick as well. It is already Tuesday and tomorrow I am meeting some old Grad School friends for dinner, Thursday is so close to Friday it always goes fast, and Friday Leigh and I are going to Nashville for the Beard Throwdown. At least I hope Leigh is still going - she is very sick right now and won't take off work so she can rest. (2:38pm)

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This looks to be a busy week. Tomorrow I have all day meetings, tomorrow night I have some house cleaning to do, Wednesday I have an all-afternoon meeting/training session then tomorrow night I have a dinner with my team from work followed by a show I am meeting Grant at. After the last night show I have to come to work Thursday morning and facilitate a senior leadership meeting all day. I will then head home amd eat dinner with Grant before he heads out of town. Friday looks to be pretty busy here at work and then hopefully the weekend will be relaxing. Next week it all kicks back up again.

I have a couple trips coming up in February and March that should be good fun. I don't know how they are going to fit into my scheudle here at work, but I don't really care to be honest. Somehow I will make it work. (4:58pm)

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Happy Birthday Robbie. (6:45pm)

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The world of outsourcing became much more real today. I spent all day in meetings with a team of people from an company in India that we are outsourcing a lot of functions to. They are going to be in town for the next 3 weeks working with us on defining, testing, etc the process we are moving and ultimately taking it with them to India (along with the jobs of about 25 people). While I am reasonably supportive of outsourcing, it is very weird actually being in the middle of it and seeing how it works. To be honest, I kind of enjoy it and think I am gaining some experience that is very very useful in today's corporate world. Anyway, just a side note on what is going on at work.

Beyond work, other things are busy as well. I was in Charlotte Monday and Tuesday so tonight was all about catching up on email, unpacking CDs, a new laser printer I got, etc. Just random stuff. I also have some Iconic art I need to take a look at and tighten up for Trent. He did a great job on it though, it is going to look good. (9:55pm)

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How do I block Spam comments on a custom CMS? How do they adapt the spamming to work on my CMS? (6:48pm)

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Happy Birthday Michael. Expect something unexpected to arrive soon. (1:11pm)

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Is it February already? Crazy. Before you know it, march will be here and I will become an old man. I remeber when my brother was this age and thinking how he was all grown up now. I don't feel grown up yet. I suppose I am, but I certainly don't feel like it.

I have been having trouble sleeping the past year or so, basically waking up every 30 minutes to shuffle about. However, ever since I got back from the weekend in Snowshoe with Scottie P I have been sleeping a lot better. I can't really figure out why, and would like to know so that I can make sure it continues. Now I only wake up every couple hours.

You know how when someone has died and people ask about them, a nice way to say it is "They are no longer with us"? Well when we are on calls and someone is looking for a person they say "Is Steve still with us?" It always makes me smile. (3:48pm)

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Some really good discussion in the post below about oil companies that spilled over from Robbie's site. A lot to read through at this point, but I am interested in hearing what everyone thinks.

I just got invovled with a new project here at work that is going to make things pretty busy - as if they weren't already. (5:46pm)

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Robbie linked to this Exxon article which is every interesting. Here is the meat:

"For the year the company earned net income of $36.1 billion, or $33.9 billion excluding special items. That's up 31 percent from the $25.9 billion it earned on that basis year earlier.

Exxon Mobil's 2005 net income for the year comes to $1,146 a second. That per-second profit is enough to pay for gas for the average American vehicle to be driven 10,294 miles, at current gasoline prices.

While oil and gasoline prices in the fourth quarter were down from the levels seen in September, that barely dented Exxon Mobil's top line. Revenue for the quarter was $99.7 billion, up from $81.9 billion in the year-earlier quarter, and down only 1 percent from the $100.7 billion in revenue in the third quarter. Full-year revenue came to $371 billion, or just over $1 billion a day." (2:11pm)

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I just got plane tickets to Nashville for Leigh and I for the Whiskerino throwdown at the end of February. I can't describe how happy I am that Leigh is going and demand that Ryan and Malisa go so she can meet them. It should be a good time with Jeremy, Jeremy, Robbie, Amy, and Michael in addition to all the other wonderful people and new people. It may seem weird that it is a gathering of bearded men, but as long as we keep some women in the picture it doesn't sound quite as homoerotic. Besides, in reality it is more about a bunch of people that found some lame excuse to be friends and then discovered how cool everyone is. Except for Michael of course...his beard is serious business.

No plans for this weekend other than hanging out with this wife and eating some good food and just relaxing. I have plenty of work to do on the interweb with BellaParler and Silent Uproar in general, but that is the norm and I don't want it to overshadow my weekend. If it gets warm enough I'd also like to take my bike out for 15-20 mile ride.

I'm glad it's Friday. (4:45pm)

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Well I'm back, it just took me a couple days to tell you. I stil haven't even unzipped my main bag, much less unpack it, washed clothes, etc but I have this weekend for that. The trip was a really good time and it was good to see Scottie P after not seeing him for what seemed lke a year. We talked about so many different things and it really amazes me how similiar we are and as a result, our lives are. So good snow a couple days, good eats, good company, and an all around great time. Thanks Scott.

I feel like there was some concerts coming up really soon, but I can't seem to remember hwta they were. I know Nada Surf and Rogue Wave is soon, as well as Far-less coming back into town. I will have to check the old interweb for others.

The lady who sits behind me turned 50 today. She has lived twice as long as me. Just seems weird.

Beard is still going strong. I have to matt it down with hair stuff now so it doesn't stick out all crazy during the day. People here already look at me weird, but I am holding strong. (5:30pm)

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Alright, I'm off. I am flying to DC to meet Scottie P and then we are driving the 5-6 hours to Snowshow, WV. There we will hopefully be doing a good bit of snowboarding and hanging out eating peanut butter and jelly. I haven't see Scott in probably a year, so it will be good to see him and catch up on all things Padilla.

I am of course taking my computer so I will probably be chiming in from time to time, internet nerd that I am. (1:48pm)

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Thanks for the comment yesterday everyone.

Today was a busy busy day at work - meeting after meeting after reports, after blah, blah, blah. Cramming everything in since I am leaving tomorrow early afternoon and won't be back until Tuesday. First vacation since Grant's wedding in October(?). Now if the weather will just stay cold so we don't end up trying to snowboard in a swimming pool.

When trying to find all my snow goodies last night, I came across a folder full of old stuff from school as a kid. Lot's of Future Problem Solvering (we won the NC competiton, and placed 3rd in international) stuff as well. It is weird to think about doing that now. I mean Future Problem Solvers? As a Middle school thing? Weird. Also, some ribons from summer camp, lots of reading and general nerd certificates, etc. Kinda neat to see it all though. I want to scan it since the paper versions won't last as long.

New Lost and Invasion tonight. Hopefully I will have time to watch.  (6:13pm)

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I think I am going to start leaving secret info in the comments post tile so you can only get it if you comment. Just because I look at my stats and see all the people, but only hear from a select few. Then again maybe I am not saying something worth commenting on.

Leigh emailed me a second ago and said she just found out she has to work Christmas day 2006. That sucks.

I had a weird lady come look at out house yesterday (it is for sale). She came to the door and asked if she could come inside. I said, "What? She said she wanted to come inside, and finally I figured out she was looking at buying the house. It was weird enough that she barged in, wanted to see everything, wanted me to get a tape measure and measure the living room, and talked about Radon, etc. but when it really got weird is when she asked me if any black people lived in the neighborhood. I said yeah, some, why? She when into this long story about how her old place had a bunch of Section 8 renters in it and it drove down the value, etc. I assured her there were no Section 8 homes in the neighborhood and that they all had maintained their value. Then she stated how she wasn't racist, but was I sure there weren't a lot of black people in the neighborhood? At this point it was begun getting annoying. I was trying to balance talking nicely to a lady really interested in buying our place and wanting to tell the lady there is nothing but black people in the neighborhood and I was the only white person, so bug off. I mean do we really want someone like that moving into our neighborhood? I don’t think so.

So anyway, the lady wouldn’t leave and kept sitting on the couch talking about random things managing to put down Mexicans, African Americans again, and Asians in the process. I tried to get her to leave and finally I made up some excuse for her to come see the door so we would at least be in that direction. By far the weirdest person I have ever had come look at the house, and not someone I really want to sell my house too. (10:51am)

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Leigh finally came home today after being gone for a week. I went and got her from the airport and saw her long enough to bring her home, eat some Bojangles, and then say goodbye as I had to leave for Charlotte tonight. Now I sit in a hotel room, up way to late because I have to be at the office at 9am for training on an IBM process modeling tool.

I hope to hook up with some Charlotte people tomorrow night for dinner and/or some drinks or just general hanging out. Get in touch friends. (12:32am)

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I did end up getting a visit from Robbie and Jeremy this weekend, which was good fun. When they got there Saturday Jeremy sent me the following plan for the night while I was taking a shower:

Mexican Food (el Rodeo on Wake Forest)
Coffee Shop - (Stone Wolf on Falls of Neuse)
Bar - (Fuse in Chapel Hill)
Capulets - (Cat's Cradle)

Pretty awesome night all the way around. Sunday we went and had some really horrible for you, but tasty food and then saw Syriana, which we all liked.

Thanks for coming up to keep me company guys! (1:48pm)

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Took Leigh to the airport this morning, she's off!

Long, long, busy week. Meetings back to back, at work late working on things. Busy 2006 so far.

Nothing cool going on this weekend. Jeremy teased me by saying he might come up, but we will seee what happens. I got some new tires for my bike last week and got it all tuned up, so if he comes, I imagine we will do some riding. Good times. (1:06pm)

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I'm back! I stayed home yesterday and worked from there so that I could hang out/baby sit Leigh. She has been sick since last Thursday or so and stayed out from work Monday and yesterday. That is huge because she never gets sick, much less sick enough to not go to work. Luckily I have been able to avoid it so far and am taking mad amounts of vitamins as to avoid the inevitable. On top of all that, she is supposed to leave Friday to go to Florida for a week for a Veterinary Conference. I hope she is feeling better by then.

So what happened this past weekend? Oh yeah, it was New Years Eve! We opted not to drive to Charlotte this year (which we have done pretty much every year we have lived in Raleigh) mainly because we had been there the last 3 weekends in a row and Leigh was going out of town this coming weekend. Plus, the fun New Years time in Charlotte has turned more into something that feels forced as if we are trying too hard to make the night some big cool thing rather than just enjoying it. So this year we stayed here and Trent did end up coming through. We went and had dinner with Trent and his wife Erin along with two of their friends. After a really good dinner and a drink we headed the house that all of Trent's band mates live in for a party. We didn't know a lot of the people and we weren't there super long since Leigh was feeling bad, but it was a good crowd of cool people and we enjoyed it quite a bit.

So, here is the new plan for future New Years' Eves. Find some cool friends, have a cool dinner, find somewhere cool to hang out and just enjoy being around people…mix and stir. (11:20am)

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Happy New Year everyone. I hope the new year brings amazing things for us all. (12:06pm)

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