It's Monday again already?!?

Well, it was a busy weekend. The whole family showed up Friday night for one last get together before we head our separate ways this fall. The result was two days of playing cards, music, football, and making at least one obligatory Hubbs shopping trip to Walmart and Sam’s Club. Aaron and Andrew also got haircuts… Andrew opting for the “I wanna look like Chris” haircut. I don’t think he’ll be maintaining his, though, so he should have hair again by the time he gets out out to Oregon.

Hit the gym this morning to run and do a little lifting, and yeah, it feels good to be sore again. I’ve been too much of a slacker the past couple of months. Gotta get back to it. The pounds don’t lose themselves.

Somebody's leaving tracts in the bathroom again...

This morning’s visit to the bathroom here at work revealed that someone has again been leaving tracts on top of the toilet paper holder in the men’s room stalls. Now, the efficacy of leaving tracts at random as opposed to other evangelistic techniques is a discussion for another blog post. But if you’re going to leave a tract in the men’s room, should your first choice really have a pink rose and the words “You’re Special” scripted on the front? *sigh*

What day is it again?

Having a day off from work in the middle of the week has totally thrown me off. Yesterday seemed like Saturday all day, which meant that I kept going into a panic about not being ready for church the next day… no music picked, Sunday School lesson not prepared… I had to keep reminding myself, wait, Chris, tomorrow is only Thursday… you still have time. So last night I picked the music. The Sunday School lesson is still waiting.

Had a good time up in Troy Mills yesterday with the Marsceau family and some assorted friends as we watched the parade, enjoyed Grandma Hazel’s fried chicken, and sat around visiting. Then last night got some work done around the house in preparation for my family coming to visit this weekend. My sister is heading back to Panama for several months and so we’re getting together to have one more weekend as a family before she leaves. We’ll be pretty scattered this fall, what with Andrew heading west to Portland (attending George Fox) and Ryan heading east to DC (grad school at Georgetown). Ah, well, we couldn’t all stay in the Midwest forever.

So now it’s off to a slow day at work… there will be a lot of people taking the rest of the week off. At least, as Geof Morris just reminded a friend, tomorrow is Friday. :-)

Ah, Home

Becky and I arrived back home late in the evening Saturday.  Travel was uneventful, though we did have a long-ish layover (4.5 hours) in Minneapolis.  But hey, we got home, so no complaints.  It was a fun trip, quite relaxing and enjoyable.  I might post a few pictures to Flickr here when I get a chance, but it looks like they’re mostly of the beach, and all the beach pictures tend to look the same before long.  There are a couple night-time ones that came out pretty well - gotta love the new DSLR camera.  :-)

Now it’s back to work, trying to clean out the ol’ email inbox and figure out where I left stuff a week ago.

Blue Man!

Last night Becky and I went to see Blue Man Group over at Universal Orlando. BMG is one of those acts that’s very hard to describe to folks who haven’t heard of them before. “Well, it’s three guys. And they’re all blue. And they do stuff with drums… and paint…” You see? That makes no sense at all, does it?

Blue Man Group

So last night we had tickets that put us in row 3, the “poncho” area. That’s right, there are plastic ponchos on each seat and yeah, you ought to wear them. It truly is the “spray zone”. The show was a mix of loud music, sweet drumming, and humor. The Blue Men never say anything, but the show is narrated by an unseen voice. They did a few hilarious “skits”, and they often pulled audience members up to participate. The one girl did so well that I have a hard time believing she wasn’t a plant - no way a random person does so well in an improvisational scene. But still, it was quite enjoyable. We laughed a lot, went “wow” several times, and left the show bleary-eyed but pleased. Oh, and Dad, if you read this: you’d get a real kick out of the trombonish instrument they made out of PVC pipe. Pretty cool. Here’s the picture as they’re trying to assemble it:

BMG PVC Trombone

For those really curious about BMG, there’s a pretty decent review written up here.

Nine Years

Hard to believe it’s been that long already. Nine years ago tonight, on a hot, sticky night in Charlotte, NC, Becky and I exchanged our vows and became Mr. and Mrs. Chris Hubbs. (Our first stop after the wedding was in a Home Depot parking lot that had an available dumpster, but that’s a different story.) God has blessed us greatly, and it’s been a wonderful nine years.

So today we are celebrating in Orlando. Becky woke up at 2:45 CDT this morning to finish getting ready so she could catch her 5 AM flight from Cedar Rapids to Minneapolis, and from there she headed down here to Orlando. I picked her up at the airport about 1 PM. We grabbed a little lunch and then came back to the hotel. I think she spent some time at the pool while I grudgingly attended the afternoon’s technical sessions at the conference.

Tonight we ate dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. It was my first time at a Ruth’s Chris, and given the price I wouldn’t be able to eat there very often even if there was one close to Cedar Rapids. That being said, tonight I had what was hands-down the best steak I have ever had in my life. It was a filet, cooked medium, and just the smell of it on that sizzling plate as it came to the table was almost worth the purchase price. I will say this: Ruth’s Chris knows how to do service right. When we made the reservation online, the form asked if it was a special occasion, and I noted that it was our anniversary. From the time we arrived at the restaurant and gave our name, each staff member who spoke with us first wished us a happy anniversary. Then they gave us dessert “on the house”. It was tasty, too. Bravo, Ruth’s Chris of Orlando.

Two more days of conference and then we have two days on the beach before heading home. Nice.

Orlando

Made it with no serious travel glitches to Orlando about 7:30 pm local time. Gotta say this - that iPod with video capability is pretty great. I loaded Season One of Battlestar Galactica on it and made it through the first two episodes before my ears got sore from the headphones. You can bet I’ll watch some more this week. Good stuff.

Got my rental car (a 2007 Mustang, pretty spiffy, though a little lacking in the headroom department) and found a restaurant to stop for some dinner before heading to the hotel. I guess hotel is really the wrong word - this thing is a full-blown resort/convention center. Got a good room without a hitch, finished my week’s worth of ironing, now I’m gonna finish a book and try to convince my body that it’s really almost 11 pm instead of the 10 pm that it is back at home.

Tomorrow morning should be fairly slow, no meetings until 11 AM and then just afternoon sessions. Good times.

Ready for a break

Today is my last day in the office for a week or so, and I am definitely ready for the break. A synopsis of next week’s events:

  • Sunday - flying out to Orlando.
  • Monday - Freescale Technology Forum begins.
  • Tuesday - Becky flies out to meet me. The girls are staying with my folks. (Thanks again, Mom and Dad!) Oh, and it’s our ninth wedding anniversary.
  • Wednesday - more FTF during the day, and we’re seeing Blue Man Group in the evening.
  • Thursday - FTF in the morning, then it’s off to be beach bums.
  • Friday - whole lotta nothing. We have a hotel on the beach in Cocoa Beach. Should be nice.
  • Saturday - fly home in the afternoon. We have an overly-long layover in MSP, but such is life.

I shall come home a more rested person. It will be glorious. :-)

Notes on a Tuesday Morning

I’m getting ready to go sit in an all-day meeting with some customers that are in town. Not real exciting, but should be some good discussion. Mostly it’s just looooong. At least food is provided. :-)

Ordered a case for my new iPod yesterday; it’s the one that Tony recommended to me the other day. I expected that if I ordered early on Monday morning that I had a good shot at 3-5 day UPS shipping getting it here to me before I leave for Florida on Sunday. But as of this morning it still hasn’t shipped. If I don’t see some movement by noon today, I’m gonna talk to Tony and get one back-channel.

Went to Texas Roadhouse last night with the family and my mom and sister who are in town visiting. Didn’t think I’d eaten too much last night, but this morning I can feel it. :-(

My Florida trip is coming up in less than a week. Orlando. We have tickets to see Blue Man Group, Becky’s going to Sea World one day while I’m at my conference, and then we have a hotel on the beach for a couple nights before we come home. And the girls are staying with my folks. 5 more days…

Sheesh, It's Monday already?!?

So for it being a weekend, it was a busy one. A synopsis:

Saturday:

  1. Ran a 5k in the morning. Finished in 31:33. It was stinkin’ hot outside.
  2. Sat and watched the parade go by. With two cute little girls, you get a lot of candy.
  3. Watched the girls while Becky went to a baby shower.
  4. Went to church for an all-evening elder meeting. Boy will I be glad when this is over.

Sunday:

  1. To church, but didn’t have to lead music - only taught Sunday School. Good times.
  2. Got a couple very sweet Father’s Day cards and a couple of t-shirts. My favorite: the one that says “Those who think they know everything annoy those of us that actually do.” Hehe.
  3. Crashed some in the afternoon, then cleaned house to prepare for my mom and sister coming to visit.
  4. Watched Cinderella Man for the first time. Russell Crowe, for all his personal problems, is a heckuva actor.

Now it’s Monday and back to work. But one week from today I will be in Orlando, FL, on Day 1 of my week-long conference/vacation. Ahhhhhh. I think I can make it one more week.