What happens when a database team is moving databases and the development team puts up a maintenance page to the company while the move occurs…

That’s right… they put me under the bus!

Just a little Friday humor… BTW… This really happened yesterday.

My kids have been on spring break all week. Being out of school with time on her hands… my daughter, Emilee, made a Spring Break Gift for me. (kind of like a birthday or Christmas gift)

So, knowing that my daughter loves to draw and create things… I could hardly wait to see what she had done for her loving and caring dad.

I open it. She quickly tells me it is a game. It’s called “pin the tail game”.
(I used to call it pin the tail on the donkey)

I was all cool with that until what came out of her mouth next….

“Dad… that face is a picture of you.”

Not sure what to think…

Anyone for a game of pin the tail on a Reeder?

(Post from my other Blog: http://LetGodBeGod.com)

As many of you may already know, Susanne and I surrendered to God’s call to ministry last March. We have been fervently praying for God’s will in our lives, and for His guidance in the next step(s) we should be taking in obedience to accomplish His will.

After much prayer, we have decided to sell our home.

We have had a burden on our hearts for over a year now concerning financial freedom (thanks Joe), and while we have made great strides in getting there, we feel that this will be a BIG STEP towards finally making it happen!

We know that God is in control, and we have already found a home that is going to be a step of faith. We are trusting that God will sell our house quickly and He can make it happen!

Buy purchasing this home, we will accomplish two things…we will be DEBT FREE except for a mortgage (which by the way will be a little more than half of what we are currently paying) and we will also be fulfilling a dream of being “out in the country” on a few acres of land. 

Please pray for favor with the owners of this property (a sister and two brothers selling their mother’s home) and for God’s perfect plan to be accomplished.  We have not listed our house with a realtor because financially that would be a bit of a set back, so we are trying to sell it on our own. 

We have constructed a website at www.2121TwinBridge.com for potential buyers to view, and we have made printable flyers to distribute. If you know of anyone that would be interested in buying our house, please let them know. Otherwise, please pray that the house will sell quickly and that we will be able to accomplish our financial goals.

Thank you all so much for praying, and for being wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who we can turn to in our trials, laugh with in our joys, weep with in our sorrows, and celebrate with in our successes.  We cannot imagine doing this “thing” called life without you all!!!

Talk about perfect timing. I went to Best Buy during lunch after eating Chick-fil-a.

Yes… I love eating at that place.

I walked in and there on the shelf… A pretty white box with the word “Wii” written on it.

I grabbed it so fast someone probably thought I was stealing it…

After talking with the nice sales person, she said they got a shipment of 28 yesterday. By the time she came in to work this morning, there were only 17. I bought mine at 1:07 PM, and it was the last one on the shelf.

Now, I gotta get off the bloggin and get to playing some tennis!!!

Since Page and Dean have been telling me about how much they enjoy their Wii gaming systems… I really want one now.

Susanne and I were kid-less this weekend to celebrate our anniversary (Nine Years). We had a great idea on a way to spend our time, we could get a Wii. For the kids of course…

We decided to take a trip to Wal-Mart… Sold Out… Huh… that was not supposed to happen..

But we were determined… Off to Chick-fil-a to get some milkshakes and a phone book. (Side note: they have the best milkshakes in the world!) Susanne called everywhere in Florence…

No Wii in Florence??? That is crazy!!! We had to settle for a milkshake.

The story does not stop there… Sunday, after our nap… Susanne woke up with a cute little song to tell about our adventures.

Check out the full story here. Make sure your sound is on to get the full effect.

I now know what married people do with out kids…

BTW: This was my first adventure with a webcam and YouTube.

Thanks Bill!

Which Star Wars character are you?

Looks like I am Qui-Gon Jinn!!!

“Qui Gon Jinn was perhaps the greatest Jedi alive, a commanding presence at Council, a strong and brave warrior who refused to be intimidated by even the most daunting challenge and a good and kind man.”

— Obi Wan Kenobi

(Warning… there are a few strong words in the quiz)

Here is a look into the Google Headquarters!!! Kinda kwel!

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_google/1.html

Hal, when are we getting the professional massage room?

                                                Thanks Dean for sharing…

Update:
Found a few more:

This one has a video about what it is like to work @ Google. It contains employee interviews and shows Google’s approach to ingenuity. The 20% Rule is awesome. This is a Google sales pitch to make people salivate wanting to work for them… let me wipe my drool… 
   http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/want-to-work-for-google-take-a-look-inside

Has a few aditional pictures.
   http://desinotes.com/2007/05/02/the-torture-of-working-at-google-in-googleplex/

Find our more @ http://www.google.com/jobs/

There is a cool feature with Google Reader that I recently started using.

They provide a way to share your favorite read items (in your massive blog roll) with others.

While reading blog entries in Reader, simply click the share link and Reader will add it to your shared list.

There are two ways to make this list visible to others.

• You can integrate into your very own blog (For an example, visit the site and look on the left at section titled: What’s Chris Reading).
• There is also an RSS Feed.

I got Page hooked on Reader, how about you?

If you have Messenger, this may be for you. You can now help raise money for charity.

It is called “I’m”, which is short for “I’m Making a Difference”

From the live.com website.
“Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program’s advertising revenue with some of the world’s most effective organizations dedicated to social causes”

You simply have to add a special code to your display name in Messenger. That simple.

I am supporting the American Red Cross, but there are other options.

***Windows Live Messenger 8.1 is required

Bring a little sanity back in your life. If you are anything like me, you are wide open these days.

Between the kids, wife, and my schedules, we have actually had to schedule a family night. Every Thursday night is our family night. No one… NO ONE… is to schedule anything for that night.

What about the other days and nights? My wife and I are very involved with our church, each serving in different capacities. I do a few side projects from time to time. Susanne sells Mary Kay; she has her facial appointments, and meetings. Emilee has piano & gymnastics. Jacob has T-Ball. Sam has “mom time.” Get the point??

So, how do we keep it all straight? I could install Exchange Server and setup a group calendar… but I think that would be over-kill. Plus, my boss has already called me a geek.

Yesterday I was reading Brad Abrams’ blog and he mentioned Cozi.

Cozi… sounds relaxing.

This is a website that allows all of our schedules to merge into one. So, when Susanne goes to schedule a meeting for the second Tuesday night of the month, she will now see that I already have a Pee Dee Area .NET user group meeting.

It also has a grocery list for when I run out of shampoo, I can add it so Susanne can know to get it next time she goes out. There is also a neat little message sender that allows easy way to send emails or phone text messages.

Anyway, it is a very nice and fast application (and FREE). And for the techy audience; They have it setup as a website, Click-Once windows application, or even a mobile application (which would allow Susanne to pull the grocery list at the store).

We’ve already started using it, and I think it will be a big help to our family.