Back at It

We had a nice trip to Dallas for the holidays. With four families all converging for four days, there was no boredom. Unfortunately, Yvonne was pretty sick most the time with coughing and congestion. And I got it late in the trip. But, that didn't stop me from taking Zoe to see King Tut with Grandma at the DMA and the ICE! exhibit with Papa at the Gaylord Texan. Zoe also spent lots of time with her cousins and had a great time. They are great with her.

Part of our gifts was photos. The picture at top is one from a photo shoot we did with shutterflykisses.com about a month ago. We printed a few and shared those with a few photos taken at day care (school pics).

Overall, Christmas was good. Yvonne got a Kindle and lots of chocolate. I got a computer, Ipod Nano and lots of chocolate. Zoe got an Elmo chair, lots of toys and clothes.

The only bummer was Yvonne and I both had a few friends we would have liked to of seen. She was too sick to visit her friends and time just got away from me. Before we knew it, we were packing the car for the trip home. Oh, the trip home was brutal! Lots of accidents. I-35 is the biggest joke in modern transportation.

Holiday parties and lights

The holiday season is in full swing here. Both our work holiday parties were last night. Unfortunately, Yvonne is sick and had to skip them. Zoe is borderline sick, so we decided to keep her home just in case. The last thing we want is to let her play with a bunch of kids and get them sick.

The last couple days, I've had a sore throat. Yesterday was the worst day and now I'm starting to feel better. I took a half-dose of NyQuil last night that seemed to help. This morning, the throat was much better, but I can't seem to clear the fog in my head. And no it's not from the holiday party last night, hehe

Last Friday, we babysat a 2-year-old for friends while they went to their holiday party. We bundled both kids in blankets in the strollers and walked to the Zilker tree (which we can see from our patio by the way). We bought a pretzel and watched the people play around. It was fun. By the time we walked back, Zoe was ready to sleep. Overall it was a good time.

I've completed most of my shopping. I need to buy about three more presents. We are driving up to Dallas next Monday for the week. My bro and his clan are driving up as well and it should be a nice family time. We are even going to check out King Tut.

The new computer is great. It's nice to push the power button and it comes on. The old computer needs a lot of hand holding in order to power up. Sometimes I have to power down all the accessories (Printers, USB router, etc.) and it works. When that doesn't work, I unplug the USB router from the computer (I suspect the computer is powering the router when i unplug the accessories and it might affect the computer's power up). And sometimes, I hit the power button and walk away in disgust only to find the computer powers up about 30 minutes later. Definitely a power issue of some sort. Might need a new power supply. Or, a good box...

Technical difficulties

I have a new computer! I'm transferring data from my old computer. It's mostly going well, except importing my old email messages.

The old computer is having trouble turning on. It's about 6 years old and starting to clunk up.

Set Phasers on Vacation

Work has a mandatory shutdown next week and I'm looking forward to real time off. I didn't take much time off between jobs, so it's been a while since I've had a real vacation--last Christmas? I don't even know.

As a result of the shutdown, work has been busy. Not in a bad way, but in a steady, wow it's already 4:30pm, kind of way.

We are going to Midland for the holiday, so I probably won't update.

Be merry and thankful.

"World War Z" Movie?? Hell Yeah

Dark Horizons reports:

Marc Forster is moving from action spy territory to an apocalypse of the undead.

The "Quantum of Solace" director is set to helm "World War Z", the film adaptation of Max Brooks's best-selling and politically charged novel about a worldwide infestation of flesh-eating zombies reports Variety.

The book is a collection of first person accounts of various survivors from around the globe a decade after a zombie pandemic first emerged from the Three Gorges Dam area in China in the 2010s and proceeded to decimate the globe.

The accounts involve not just some diverse stories of battles for survival, but the religious, geo-political, and environmental implications that came with the plague.

"Changeling" scribe and "Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski is writing the screenplay, and Brad Pitt's Plan B is producing.

I'd be in detention too

What i don't get is -10 character points ...Click for full image

New Trek

I'm a huge "Lost" fan and was pretty excited to hear J.J. Abrams is revamping Star Trek. I've been quietly checking out photos and such, but today they show the new Enterprise. I think it looks good, don't you?

New Day, new era

After the historical results of yesterday's election, it's a time for change.

And to follow that momentum, I canceled my Myspace account today. It's been an idea I've been bouncing around for a while, since I don't get anything out of the site anymore. And I wasn't getting any good updates/notes on MS anymore. Facebook seems more my speed.

Dallas House is Sold

We closed today on the Dallas house. It was a good run and an expensive lesson in property ownership. We can finally say we are done with Dallas and face news lives in Austin. Zoe changed rooms yesterday and today is election day. A day of changes!

Maybe to emphasize why we wanted to move, or maybe just out of coincidence, I got this email today from the old Dallas neighborhood crime watch:


ALERT: Be aware that the following incidents have taken place in our neighborhood in the past few days:

DOOR KNOCKING: 2 residents on Rambling had someone knocking on their doors between 4 - 4:30 A.M. on Saturday, Nov 1st. These may have been attempted burglaries.

GUNSHOTS: We are once again experiencing an increase in hearing gunshots. Please try to isolate the area where the shots are coming from and report those to 9-1-1 immediately.

TAGGING: 2 residents on Rambling had their garage doors tagged (marked with graffiti) on Monday, Nov 3rd.

We are all bogged down with news of the economy and elections. Don't lose sight of the progress our Neighborhood Association has made in our community and the security we can provide for our families, neighbors and property.

Family Music Festival fun

Zoe Dancing from Nathan Stull on Vimeo.

Under Contract

It's official. They want us out by November. Woot!

Send Us Mojo

I don't want to brag, but I guess my blog is kind of a big deal. The potential buyer MUST have read my post yesterday because late in the day we heard from our realtor that they withdrew their bid on the other house and plan to make an offer on ours sometime today.

So, if you read this, send us mojo!

Second Place?

Word from our Dallas realtor is that someone was very serious about our house. Upon further investigation, she discovered it was their second choice. Apparently, the buyer is going to try to work out a price on another house first. IF that falls through, they will come to us.

So close, yet so far. A perfect birthday present would a bid on our Dallas house.

Moved and Grooved

We are in our new apartment and the move was relatively painless. Of course, all our stuff is still in Dallas. It's been a rough few days, but we are surviving.

With the move comes an added desire to sell the house in Dallas even more. Paying rent and mortgage together blows chunks. We're lucky we are only starting both now, but the prospect of doing it over a long period of time will be hard. I might need to get a second j-o-b or something.

I just ended a contract for freelance work, so I could concentrate on the new j-o-b I'm working. It would have helped, but it didn't pay much, or often (every three months). So, if I take on extra work now, it'll be faster cash and less cerebrial.

Zoe seems to like the new apartment and has already managed to escape the back porch. She just walked through the railing bars. That was a fun moment ...

Yesterday morning around 7:45a.m., we went for a walk and saw an armadillo scrounging around in the parking lot. Zoe reacts to animals and birds with excitement these days and we watched the 'dillo for a while. She also squeaks in the car when she sees a bird.

The Old 'Hood

We have had a very nice stroke of luck becoming friends with one I dub Old Skool and his familia. Case and point, we've been living at their house in Austin the entire time we've been down here. They have been extremely generous and without that, our transition would be much less smooth.

But, the truth of the matter is we can't live there forever, or even until our house sells someday. We don't even know when the house will sell, so we made the decision to rent an apartment for a year.

One of the only negatives to this decision falls on the house in Dallas and when that will sell. Obviously, we're still paying a mortgage up there. The second negative is also a positive: while we won't get to enjoy our generous friends' company, we will be out of their way.

Actually, I just thought of one more negative that is unrelated: we rented a no-pet apartment. Walker will have to remain at Cicada Oaks for the time being and I'm still figuring out how to make that work well. Roscoe, well, I just don't know. The house-sitter is talking about how he loves the cat and might want to keep him and I'm inclined to let him.

Now for the good part; positives.

• We will live within walking distance of Zilker Park, Barton Springs, and Barton Springs Road (Shady Grove, Chuy's etc.).
• We will live closer to work and day care.
• Our generous friends (see above) are also giving us some old furniture (some to keep, some to borrow), so we won't need to take too much out of the Dallas house (which is staged)
• This one is personal: I will feel more "at home" in Austin, and less of a visitor--maybe I will even feel like an Austinite again.
• ACL for free off the back patio.
• Greenbelt is 20 feet behind the back patio.
• Pool!

Living Strong, Living in A-Town

It has been pretty busy around here. We've had something planned every weekend for the past few weeks. And there are at least two more weekends ahead that are booked.

Things we've done:

• Babysat for my bro and sister in-law so they could enhoy a "date night".


• Looked at Austin homes


• Visited with family from out of town (Dallas, hehe)


• Voluneered for the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Human Race

Things we are about to do:

• Drive up to the Dallas house to gather various items


• Drive to Midland for a fun baby shower


• Meet with a mortgage broker to line everything up for when the Dallas property sells

Funny Observation

At my previous job in Dallas, I covered new restaurants, bars, etc. There were often times, I had to compose a list of top burgers, or layout pages with food shots. After a few hours in the morning of doing this work, I usually began to crave a burger, Mexican food or something that I just finished working on (sushi, too).

These days at my new job, I work for a tech company. Instead of burgers, it's computer components. And the funny thing is now instead of craving a burger, I find myself thinking, "Ooooo, my next computer will have one of those."

Feeling Better

I must have gotten a 24-hour bug or something. Sunday afternoon, I started feeling woozy. Then, the feeling just got worse and worse until I went to bed at nine. If you know me, you know I don't normally do that. I stayed in bed for about an hour under two covers shivering until I fell asleep.

All day yesterday, I felt pretty out of it. Dizzy, hot and cold spells, and headaches. I had a hard time focusing at work. But since I'm still pretty new around the office, I didn't feel comfortable taking a sick day. Funny, I'd rather be comfortable about the appearance of my work ethic, than, well, just be comfortable.

I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. last night and today I feel great. I'm able to focus and no headaches, chills, etc.

So there you go. Sickness is hopefully gone. I say hopefully because as soon as I say it's gone for sure, I'll start to shiver or something; Murphy's Law.

I guess that was before Murphy became Robocop...

That one's for all you nerds out there.

Happy Hour?

I have wife clearance for a happy hour this week, any days but Tuesday and Wednesday.

Any takers?

Situation Report

After being in Austin one full week, I thought a sit rep would be good. Basically, the state of the union is good.

Living at a buddy's house hasn't been as cramped as I expected. Yvonne and I try to step up and do things around the house when possible. Zoe is very mobile, but well contained. hehe. She likes people, so she's developing special bonds with the people in the house. She seems to be going through a rough teething spell, that's been waking us all up a few nights for a couple hours. Sleep levels were low until I got a full seven hours last night.

Work has been interesting. I haven't completed a full week yet, and things are still catching up. I'm waiting on various elements: computer, security tag, etc. I've eaten in the cafeteria everyday and that's not a problem at all. The views are nice and I even ate outside yesterday.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to catch up on other things in life. I have some freelance work that's piling up. While I was living in Dallas alone, I was pushing a lot of my nerdy stuff to the top of the Netflix queue. Now, I need to watch those so new movies arrive. I am also reading book 8 of "The Walking Dead" and the two people I've spoken to about it (they both read it already) are excited to talk to me when I'm done. I'm about half-way now.

Walker is at Cicada Oaks and from initial reports he is doing well. The house sitter in Dallas is watching Roscoe.

This weekend is our five year anniversary. We are staying at the hotel we were married at. Funny how easy that is to do when you're in the same city. It's amazing we planned that whole darn wedding from Chicago.

Foundation, The Movie?

I thought this was encouraging. If they can actually get around to "Watchmen", then "Foundation" can't be completely out of the scope of reality ... so to speak.

New Project

For fun, me and a buddy are figuring out how to organize a poker game. Legal, of course. In the meantime, I made this resource site for us as we figure it out.

In Austin

Well folks, here I am. The trip down was hectic, but once I got here and saw Yvonne and Zoe things smoothed out. I think they both appreciate me around.

Walker is being boarded until Sunday. Then, I'll take him out to Cicada Oaks to stay until further notice (we sell the Dallas house). We seem to be hovering in a good holding pattern for now.

Austin is much different. Every interaction you have, the person is nice. From the check out line at the grocery store, to the gas station attendants, to the random person in the elevator. It's refreshing. Not that Dallas is grumpy, but people aren't as warm.

I might buy some work clothes today and catch up on some other work.

This looks good

P.S. Batman Dark Knight was awesome

Memed Copy

What I was Doing Ten Years Ago
I was working for a local weekly newspaper. I had just become the editor after working as the staff writer for a year. My ulcer was beginning to develop.

Five Snacks I Enjoy
1. Chicken wings
2. Take Five
3. Pizza
4. BBQ Chips
5. Cheese and crackers

Five Things On My To-do List Today
1. Try to rehome our cat
2. Laundry
3. Call insurance about a cracked windshield
4. Freelance work
5. Clean house


Five Favorite Recipes
1. BBQ (anything)
2. Lasagna
3. Fried chicken
4. Breakfast tacos
5. Queso


Five Jobs I’ve Had
1. Writer
2. Editor
3. Sales rep
4. Chemical waste treatment
5. Bag boy (first job!)


Five Bad Habits
1. Worrying
2. Beer, etc.
3. Eating bad food
4. Not working out
5. Being too social


All The Places I’ve Lived
1. Davis, CA
2. San Diego, CA
3. Dallas, TX
4. Miami, FL
5. Houston, TX
6. El Campo, TX
7. Austin, TX
8. Chicago, IL


Five Random Things About Me
1. I like fly fishing.
2. I'm a sci-fi nerd.
3. When I get motion sickness, I close my eyes are pretend I'm in the Millennium Falcon.
4. I'm relatively good at training mutts
5. I can be intuitive, sometimes.


Five People I’m Tagging
Nobody. But, I was tagged by Katy. So was Yvonne.

Moving to Austin

Some of you may read my wife's blog where she mentioned she and Zoe are living in Austin. I've had a couple friends ask me if everything is OK and what is going on?

We are all moving to Austin. If we could have done it at the same time, that would have been great. But, it takes a while to iron out details and find opportunity.

So, next Wednesday, I'm moving down there to join them. I'm looking forward to living down there again. It's a great town with great people.

So, that's the big news. :)

Police State

If you don't know we live in a police state, you aren't paying attention.

Imagine full (gilly) camo Marines watching you 200 yards from your home and determining you were a hostile that needed to be "neutralized."

Major Change

Most people know big change is on the way for me and mine. Some of us have already seen it. And, soon so will I. If this sounds like I'm talking in code, it's only because I need to handle the situation delicately. It's the main reason my blog has been kind of silent the past few months. Soon, I will reveal the bunny in the hat.

Yayyyy!!

Grillin' Season

On a recent visit to my brother's house, Yvonne shot this photo. That was a good day.

And Zoe is awesome (Yvonne says I'm biased).


Hide and Seek With Da from Nathan Stull on Vimeo.

A couple new videos

Lots of crazy things are happening here. Life-changing things that I hope to write about soon.

In the meantime, enjoy the show.


Dog Play from Nathan Stull on Vimeo.

I'm mailing a check to Yoko as we speak. It's in the mail!


Frog Feet Go for a Walk from Nathan Stull on Vimeo.

A Year in Review

A year ago, I ran red lights in front of my mother-in-law and she encouraged me.

Yvonne was in labor, it close to 36 hours and little did we know she was 8 centimeters. We left they house because she had the "urge to push." Hence, running red lights.

Since that morning at 4am, Zoe has tripled in size. She's gone from smiling to smiling with five teeth. She's gone from not being able to hold up her head to running.

Breastfeeding to cupcake.

Year 1: Zoe D

Good little Zoe will be 1 year old tomorrow. She's tripled her size and gone from not being able to hold up her head to running on the floor. From breast feeding to eating a hole Sprinkles cupcake on her birthday.

Has My Vote

Surviving

Yvonne and I decided to finish up our house. That involves painting our den and kitchen, as well as a bathroom. Right now, I'm in the garage with a foot on a bag of mulch because the fumes are hard core. They closed the rooms off with plastic sheets because they are spraying everything.

So, all our kitchen stuff is spread throughout the front room. We watched "Lost" in the guest bedroom and there's paper or plastic covering the majority of the house. We opened the windows last night and that was a huge help.

Last weekend, I had 115 bags of mulch delivered. I estimate about 18 are left and about three beds outside. Then the outside is done, other than some planting in two beds.

We are getting the house in ship-shape and it's nice.

Poor little Zoe had strep last week and has been recovering. Today was the first day where she seemed her usual cheerful self. It's nice to have her back.

Testing Video

Does this seem a littler clearer to you?



Untitled from Nathan Stull on Vimeo.

Good joke

What did the buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?

Make me one with everything.

Update of the Living Dead

We had a garage sale this past Saturday. We accomplished both our goals: make a little cash and get rid of a lot of stuff. We still have some leftover items (clothes, table, crib, etc.), but it shouldn't be too hard to donate. Yvonne and I are still recovering. Our legs and backs were sore.

I know just doing videos is a little lame like the last post I did, so I'm mixing it up by also typing something. Here's a video of Zoe helping at the garage sale (before customers arrived).



And, here's a photo of all our stuff:


We've also been adapting to life with an almost-walker. Zoe can take about 10 steps before falling, but that's enough mobility to change the game. We added a baby pin to our living room that seems to do the trick pretty well.

Yesterday, we had a couple friends come over for burgers and Rock Band. We downloaded "Heroes" by David Bowie, "Truckin'" by the Grateful Dead and "Roxanne" by the Police. Yvonne sang "Roxanne" and I sang the Dead. It was fun and the burgers ended up putting everyone into a coma.

And in my effort to keep things mixed, check out this video of Zoe dancing to "Still Alive" from the game Portal. She gets into it. This is the second time I played the song. The first time, she hopped over to the TV to dance. I think that's why she mellows out a little here.

Learning to Walk

Sci-Fi actors' guild?

Anyone who really knows me, knows I'm into Sci-Fi. This is a post about a recent observation in the TV shows.

The other day I was talking to a friend about the show "Stargate: SG1". If you don't know the show, Richard Dean Anderson ("Macgayver") played the lead character for most of the show's existence. Yeah, that show. Yvonne calls it "The show with the guy with gold silly putty on his forehead."

Indeed.

Most people don't really pay attention to the show, but I like it. The dialogue between the characters is funny and the special effects aren't too bad. And I like it's spin-off show too, "Stargate: Atlantis".

Anyway, my friend and I were discussing how SG seems to absorb other sci-fi shows' actors. For example, after "Farscape" ended, two of the main characters joined the SG team.

Farscape, check.

Then, we started breaking it down. OK, the hologram doctor from "Voyager" plays a government suit in a few episodes.

Star Trek, check.

It started to get funny. In fact, I noticed a wraith on Atlantis that looked a lot like Trip, from "Star Trek: Enterprise" after that show was cancelled. Yup.

Star Trek, double check.

When "Firefly" cancelled, the "Stargate: Atlantis" team found themselves with a new doctor. She went from being a natural mechanic to a full blown doctor. Only in Sci-Fi, baby.

Firefly, check.

So I was asking my friend, what other Sci-Fi shows were there? Who else can we include? We were stumped and the conversation ended.

Then I caught an episode last night of SG1 (Daniel Jackson was kidnapped by "Shaka" for a right of passage ceremony) and noticed a guard looked a lot like a Nietzchean from "Andromeda". I was right, but I can't find the actor's name. Then I remembered, another character of that cancelled show also became the new doctor in the SG1 series.

Andromeda, double check.

Editor's note: Major Coburn was played by Steve Bacic. See comments for all the hot nerdy details.

So, I ask you: What other shows are there?

Friday Night Party

The girls enjoy a dance around the fire.

Sychronize

It was early, approximately 5:45am, like every morning. First program begins to run: is the alarm set so we get up on time? I could sleep four more days and never wake up. What would work think? I check the radio volume and turn it up.

The baby was still sleeping, so I want as much sleep as I can get. I think I got up at 3am and made a bottle?

I knew the pending alarm was on the way. At 6am, it begins to play classical music at a loud volume.

I hit snooze and adjust the volume lower. I typically hit snooze during the work week three times until 6:30am, when the next program initiates. The snooze is like a warning system for me.

At 6:30am, the next program begins to run. Who is taking the baby? Do I need to get up or can I sleep in? Yvonne is taking her on Monday. That's right. OK. Does she remember?

Tap tap. "It's 6:30."

"Wha? zzzzz"

Sleep resumes all around.

Fast forward 10 minutes. The snooze returns. 101.1 FM plays softly.

Tap tap. "It's 6:40."

"Huh? zzzz"

New program begins to run. If integer Y doesn't get up by time index B (A defined by initial alarm), what action does integer N need to take?

Processing. Resume sleeping until information is ready.

Ten minutes later, the strings and brass return with a light march on the clock. I hit the button turning the alarm off once and for all and sit up.

"I better get up so the house is running and we can get to day care and work on time," I think to myself, a little annoyed at the light snoring in the room. I want to go back to bed.

I head to the bathroom and run the shower. About halfway through this shower, I realize it's Sunday.

Oh well, now I'm awake. What level am I on in Guitar Hero?

First Crawl?

Odd occurences

I took the element to the dealership today for some routine work and a few additions. After dropping it off, I signed up for the shuttle service to take me to work, which was only about 3 miles away. One other person was riding the shuttle with me and I was a little worried when it was in the opposite direction. But, I was more surprised when the shuttle dropped him off at the Porsche dealership.

So a dude drives a Honda van (he was talking about his Odyssey), but works for Porsche? Now, I’ve seen everything. Dallas, you threw me a curve ball.

But that's not as odd as the RSS crop of my last entry's photo. It totally focuses on my belly! WTF? Look at those abs, man ...


On a side note, my grandfather made that belt buckle and it's my favorite.

Trek at the Lake

Today, we went over to White Rock for a nice walk along the shore. There were many people riding bikes, jogging or even fishing. It was a nice day for it. Walker behaved on the leash pretty well and we managed to take a few photos.

I'm officially a block captain now. My first duty is to collect the names of the neighbors on my street. So at some point, I'll be getting about 25 names--most likely next weekend. This weekend was about tackling a much-needed leaf issue in the front yard. Only eight bags or so, but it had to be broken down into two phases, due to baby time.

Howdy neighbors

Tomorrow night I'm going to the neighborhood watch meeting and debut as one of the block captains. I don't think they hand out badges, but we'll see. ha ha

SUUUUPERRRRRR TUESSSSSSDAYYYYYY!

Hello 2008

Nearly a month after the new year, I'll post my resolutions here.

First, the regulars:

• Workout/ride my bike more/lose 10 pounds
• Eat better
• Read more
• Let go of idle B.S.

Then, a few new ones:

• Be a good dad
• Help with the neighborhood association more
• Explore existential being and inner peace

I have a couple more, but I don't think I'll post them up here. They are secret missions for only the few.

Playtime

All in!

I've been playing World Series of Poker '08 on the 360. So far, it's the best poker game created for the console--if not ever--I've found. I have a buddy in Austin who plays, too. So it has the same social feel to it. My friend found several tournaments and might even win one or two. I haven't had the chance to get too serious with them myself, but I did catch a game last night.

Usually, when I play this group, I do fairly well. I think I got 6 or 7 out of 21 last night. The tourney started late, so i was nodding off. Suddenly, I stirred from a brief slumber to discover I went all in with an off-suit 6-3. Someone called my bullshit and that was the end of me. I was in bed asleep within 3 minutes. If I wasn't so tired, who knows how well I could have done.

Anyone up for playing it in real life?

Improvements

Sorry I haven't updated recently. My heart hasn't been into it.

We had our trees trimmed for the first time ever this week. It was a hefty bill, but apparently one of the costs of owning huge trees. Go fig. I think they look pretty good--and more importantly, they're not touching the house anymore. The next big project is replacing a sliding glass door with a French door (custom size, no less).

Meanwhile, things are moving right along. Zoe is doing well. The house is in good shape.

The only thing in the air is where I'll be working in about a month an a half. Not, who I will be working for (hopefully, that stays the same), but where. They first told me I'd be going back to working from home. Then, the building peeps mentioned I might stay/be moved in with the sales team (dread). Then, for good measure, my work added another option to the table of working in an entirely different building. "All of these are options," is the most solid statement I'm getting. I'm trying to be a good sport about it, but it's hard when you don't know what the drive will be taking your kid to day care. And it's hard when your opinion is really not considered, even though you've been the only one actually going to the office everyday for the past year.

It is what it is. I will bend like the willow. I have some faith that good people will make good decisions.

And I miss Sophie.