Early Christmas

On Saturday we decided to ditch our ward Christmas party to have an early Christmas. David was just too excited about exchanging gifts... he couldn't wait until Christmas. ;P So, I said "I guess I'm up for it." hahaha I'm just kidding. It really was his idea! First, we made gingerbread houses (something I had never done before). David made a really awesome two story castle/dream house, and I made a mobile home ;) I don't know where the idea came from... It was really fun to make though.

4.0!!!

Ashley doesn't know I'm posting this, or else she would stop me.  But I'm at work, so she can't.  Mwahahaha!

So, the semester of school is finally over, and the results are in (unofficially): despite having finals right after Thanksgiving weekend, not having a lot of time to study because of travel on weekends and lots of other random stuff that happened, taking Microbiology and Human Growth and Development at the same time, and having one professor that barely speaks English and another that's very disorganized, Ashley has scored her second consecutive 4.0!

Congratulations baby!  I'm so proud of what you've done this semester, and I want everyone to know it!  I love you!

P.S.  This means that Ashley has some free time on her hands, finally.  So, if you ever wanted to bug her about something but didn't want to interrupt her studying, what are you waiting for?!

Six Months!

As of today, Ashley and I have been married for 6 months! And we haven't even killed each other yet! So whoever bet on that outcome, pay up. ;) It's kind of a crazy time right now, so we didn't do anything too fancy to celebrate. In the morning, Ashley had to go have blood drawn for some lab tests (she HATES doing that), I had to work and she had school until 6:00 PM, and we're busy getting ready for her next test on Wednesday. She also had a test today, and knocked it out of the park! She's so smart! I love her!

However, we did sneak out to Fuddrucker's for dinner. I've never been a huge burger fan, but Ashley loves it. We've been there a couple times before, and the place is growing on me. I recommend the ribeye steak sandwich.

We're gonna go back to studying, but happy 6 monthaversary to us!

An Obaminable Choice

So, the election is over, and the results are in: the majority of the nation was completely duped into making a completely abominable -- err, Obaminable -- choice. And I'm sure someone will call me a racist for saying so, but I don't care. We're going on record as saying we voted against Obama not because he's black, but because his policies are abominable. They are so bad, we've invented a new word for them: Obaminable!

But what could possibly be so bad about the media's anointed messiah? We'll we'd all know, except that the media hasn't been doing their job in a good long while, so most people know nothing about him. Here's the highlights:

• Obama says he'll give a tax cut to 95% of Americans, meaning anyone making less than $250,000. Of course, what he didn't tell you is that taxes are going up on everyone making more than that. And that that also includes small businesses that employ millions of Americans. I can't think of a better solution to an ailing economy, can you? Taxing small businesses? Genius!
• Obama has said before that he wants to negotiate with our enemies abroad. I don't know how you negotiate with someone who wants you dead. Say, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, who is pursuing nuclear weapons and has sworn to wipe Israel off the map. How do you negotiate with that? "Okay, what if you only nuke half of Israel?" "90%." "75%?" "Done." And next CNN reports on Obama's version of "I have achieved peace for our time," only to be interrupted by breaking news of bombs falling on Jerusalem. Or New York. Or who knows where else.
• Obama wants us to be free from foreign energy, in ten years. Sounds nice - but how do you do it? He's pushing for subsidies for "renewables" more than anything, meaning wind and solar. Anyone who knows anything about the energy industry knows that's ridiculous. Even if building those facilities was completely free, we still couldn't meet our needs with wind and solar. The answer is nuclear, but before we can get those up and running, we need more oil. We can get it from here if we'll just try. It'll take a while, sure, but let's use everything we got. Instead, Obama has admitted he plans on bankrupting the coal industry through carbon cap laws. Wonderful - let's destroy our principle source of energy while chasing a energy castle in the sky.

I could go on - and I probably will. But these are things you didn't hear during the campaign because Obama would never admit it and McCain's campaign didn't have the sense to go after it. We all need to prepare for 4 years of Obaminable policy - as well as drumming up support for good men with sound policies to bring positive change to Washington in 2010, by replacing the ones that have lost touch inside the Beltway, no matter what party they are from. This starts at the local level in your party caucauses, especially if you need to get rid of an incumbent from your own party. The rebuilding of the conservative movement needs to start now, and it needs to start with each of us, from the ground up.

...and, I'm done. :-)

For now...

Squier babies

Catching up photos

I've gatta catch up on the pictures I have taken in the past couple of months. I decided to use my makeup (the one with all the assorted colors that I never wear) to make us look like true BYU fans during the football game! (It only looks like he is wearing lipstick, but only because I smooched him!)


David's mom brought me back a beautiful Italian scarf! I wanted to show my appreciation by taking some pictures of us wearing it. I took a picture of me but it didn't come out too well. ;P David is much more photogenic!

My cutie just working on the computer! I blindsided him with the scarf!






Isn't he so great!? My baby puts up with a lot! I LOVE HIM! ;D

Midweek Vacation!

This week we decided to go on a little vacation in the middle of the week. The occasion? Well, a while ago, we decided we were going to go to the BYU game at TCU, since it's the only time they would be playing within a couple hundred miles of us. Since it was a Thursday game, I was trying to figure out exactly how that was going to work, especially since I also wanted to go to the team fireside the night before the game. I asked Ashley, "Is there anything cool to do in Dallas?" And we both answered at the same time:

The Dallas Temple!
See, the Dallas Temple is actually where Ashley and her family were sealed together back in 1999. So we thought it would be cool to go back there and go through it again. It was a great experience!

Then, we changed into our game attire and headed to the BYU game.

Now, the traffic was bad, and the final score was worse, but we had a good time. We got home around 3 AM Friday morning, and I was back at work for 9 hours the next day. And honestly, it seemed like everything that could go wrong during the trip did go wrong. But it was all worth it! We had a great time together.

Undercover agent

Okay, I know some of you out there have heard the rumors. I can now come out and confirm these rumors. Yes, David has gone undercover for the past 3 months in Iraq. He may be a mild-mannered computer programmer by day, but by night he's an invincible counter-terrorist undercover super-secret agent. I can't say too much about how it's going, but check out this article.

Frog kisses!

There is a really pretty trail behind our apartment complex and the other day I found a frog! I was so excited! :) So I caught it and David took a pic....and NO I didn't really kiss it. Gross!

Good Luck Charm!

So, I noticed something very, very interesting recently. Out of all the BYU games Ashley and I have watched together, BYU has always won. And yet, until the recent slaughter of UCLA and Wyoming, they've all been very close! A blocked extra point at Washington, a blocked field goal at the Vegas bowl, a 5 point win against TCU... I thought about it a little more, and it seemed like our current win streak began about the same time that I met Ashley, actually.

So, I did some research to back up my superstition. BYU's last loss was against Tulsa on Sept. 15, 2007. (Yeah, that's right - over a year now, baby! Take that, haters!) You wanna know what happened the very next day? That was the first time Ashley and I ever experienced reciprocation of occipitation, to use some 222 lingo. Ever since then, BYU has not lost a game! And more than that, we started consistently pulling out the close ones! It's like, we finally have all the elements in place! A dominant line on both sides of the ball, huge talent at the skill positions, good special teams, a good secondary, and the best coaching staff possible. All we needed was that final piece. And that final piece was getting Ashley in my life!

"Oh, come on! That's ridiculous!" You may mock. But once I finally got in the game and got moving towards marriage like I was supposed to, look what happened! I know you think that there's no connection, but I beg to differ. I quote Collie 4:18 -

"When you're doing what's right on and off the field, I think the Lord steps in and plays a part; magic happens."

That's true in real life, too. I did what's right, and behold, a miracle happened: I found the woman of my dreams and married her! And if the Lord can make that happen, a undefeated season and a BCS bowl -- or, dare I say it, a chance at the championship game -- is nothing by comparison!

Magic happens.

I am a witness!

(While a lot of this post was tongue in cheek, I do think that Ashley has brought me the best luck I have ever had, and it's a miracle that I have her in my life. A BYU win streak is just one of the many, many blessings she has brought with her.)

The Squier Family

This is a video I made of my cousins. They are so cute!

BYU DESTROYS UCLA! 59-0!

So, Friday night I had a dream. Maybe it was because of the flag we hung up above our computer/TV earlier that night:


But in that dream, BYU scored like 70 points in their game against UCLA, and I was ecstatic. I told Ashley, "I really hope we drop 70 on 'em!" I thought we would win, and I believed we could win big, but 70 was a little high, even for my ridiculous optimism. Or was it...?

Well, by the time it was half time, we already had 42 points, and it was obvious that if Bronco Mendenhall was a complete jerk like Kyle Whittingham, we could have required a real quick upgrade for a third digit on the scoreboard. Seriously. When it was all said and done, it was 59-0 -- including a field goal block, just to show the world of doubting Herbstreits that that's what we do here -- and that's after pulling the starters midway through the third quarter. It was beautiful -- and it was UCLA's worst loss since 1929. Take THAT, all you haters!

And in honor of the beautiful, flawless victory, Ashley suprised me by painting her beautiful and flawless toes in a beautiful and flawless way. Check it out!


Isn't that great? I have the best wife in the whole wide world!

Loopy David during Ike

Here are a couple pics of David last night. David was SO loopy! I wanted to stay up and keep an eye on hurricane Ike, because I was worried about all my family that lives in Houston. I finally gave up when my cute husband started rolling around on the floor acting like he was drunk... making fun of all the commercials....like he was 5 years old again. It was pretty amusing! haha But I felt bad, because he got up really early for work that day and I'm sure after a long day at work, he was more than ready for bed. And he says I get crazy when I'm sleepy... ;P

Sweet Justice! BYU Wins!

photo credit: AP Photo/Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News

I just wanted to say, I am thrilled with BYU's crushing defeat of Washington last weekend. And aside from the blowout I wanted, I couldn't think of a better way to have it end. That's not because I like exciting nail-biters; I don't. It's because I just LOVE the irony of listening to all the whiny Huskies telling me that the refs stole the game from them. Here's why:

1. The unsportsmanlike conduct call at the end of the game, which forced a 35 yard extra point try, wasn't even a judgment call. It's explicitly in the rule book.
2. Washington received a total of 4 penalties in the whole game. All were the obvious kind, and one actually helped them (the intentional grounding call, which, if it were Max Hall, would have been ruled a fumble and upheld by "indesputable video evidence," and all you PAC-10 homers know it). They were not called for a single hold, despite numerous blatant holding violations, including the picture above.
3. Washington got what they deserved from their own corrupt officials! The PAC-10 requires their own officials at all home games. That cost us the Arizona game in '06, the UCLA game in '07, and almost the Washington game in '08. You've got no one to blame but yourselves!
4. We blocked the extra point! Whether it was from 20 or 35 yards out, we blocked it. We didn't just tip it either. That kick was dead on arrival. When my team gets screwed by the refs, the PAC-10 homers say, "Officials don't change the outcome of games; if you deserved to win, you still would have made the necessary play." (In the case of So'oto and Hall's non-fumbles of last year, the Matt Allen offensive PI and the flagrant no-call when Meikle got knocked unconscious on a fair catch, I respectfully disagree anyway.) So make the play! The officials did not rob you of possession of the ball or a touchdown or anything near the level they have robbed my Cougars. You have to make the extra point! It's as simple as that.
5. Outright national championships - BYU: 1; Washington: 0.

Bring on UCLA!

Gary-the newest member of our family!

Last week my little brother, robby, came and spent a couple nights with us. (I'll tell more about that adventure later....still working on the video) ;P So, robby had this idea to go to Petsmart to buy me another fish. We had nothing else planned that day besides swimming for 8 hours (turning me into a lobster of course) so we were off!


By the time we got there and I had thought things through a little, I realized I didn't really want a new fish to take care of...We already have trouble remembering to clean the fish bowl we have now, with only one beta. Anyone who knows anything about Beta's knows that you can't put two in the same bowl-meaning we would have to put the new beta in a new bowl. Meanwhile, robby was hypnotized by all the different fish. He spotted some "really cool snails" for sale! He showed me and...it was pretty much love at first site. I knew that this would be the perfect addition to our family! I have always loved the little "sucker fish" (I don't know what they are really called) lol but that would require a a tank with a pump. We only have a couple cute fish bowls for beta's.


We got back home and were trying to find the perfect name for him. Myself, being a fan of Spongebob in my younger years, lol, agreed to the name robby suggested- "Gary". So there you have it. Gary, the newest member of the merriman family :D and for those of you who haven't met my fish that I got when I was a lonely single...this is Blanquita (in the pic below). I named her Blanquita because in spanish "blanca" means white-so I turned that into a nickname because when I bought her, she was so white/clear that you could see straight through her. You could even see her intestines. I felt a special bond because growing up, I was teased a lot for being so pale. Kids at school would call me albino, clear, whitey etc. So we have a lot in common. :P Hope I didn't bore you too much with my stories!

Date Night!

Just a little snapshot of life from today. Tonight we decided FHE was a date night. We didn't do anything crazy; we just went to Gatti's Pizza. On the way home, we stopped by the pharmacy to pick up Ashley's perscription, and it took FOREVER! To make matters worse, Ashley needed to use the ladies' room about 5 minutes into the wait. 15 minutes later, it was about to be a national disaster! Finally we got the meds, made an emergency pit stop, and were on our way home. That's when we had this exchange, which we decided we had to share...

David: Isn't this a great date? A pizza buffet, medicine, and an emergency bathroom stop?
Ashley: We sound so old!

Yeah, I guess we do. But we're really not, I promise. Stay tuned for weekly updates about how Ashley's bad knee predicted the latest rain storm. ;)

From my cold, dead hands!

Quick quiz: how can you use one of these to save the world?
Answer: you can't! It's a freakin' lightbulb!

So, on Monday, the apartment complex put a note on our door that basically said, "We know how to run your life better than you do. To that end, we will be invading your apartment, stealing all of your incandescent light bulbs (which only terrorists and Nazis use anymore, you environmentally insensitive clods!), and replacing them all with CFL bulbs. You are immune to Mercury poisoning by now, right? Well, either way, we're not liable for that just like we're not liable for the fact that our front gate hasn't worked correctly in the last year. How could we be? We were saving up to buy these CFLs for you so we can SAVE the WORLD!

"Plus, your electric bill will be lower by 33%! 'Kay thanks, bye!"

My response was basically this: "You can have my incandescent bulbs when you pry them from my cold, dead hands!" And to prevent them from entering with their special key, Ashley and I left the deadbolt locked. This meant Ashley had to go out the back door and hop the railing to get out and run errands, but the evil enviro-communist plot was thwarted. Long live full spectrum incandescent light!

So, some of you unenlightened (pardon the pun) people may be asking, "What have you got against CFLs, anyway? They're more efficient and last longer. What's not to love?" Well, let's run down the list.

1. CFLs, like any fluorescent light, contain mercury. Should one break, the mercury emitted exceeds EPA standards.
2. CFLs are not bright. I had one once, and to use an LDS analogy, it was like being in the terrestrial kingdom as opposed to the celestial glory of incandescent light.
3. CFLs emit a very narrow spectrum of light. The light makes you feel like you're in a warehouse, not in a home. It makes me feel "blotchy." (Ten points for the first person to get that movie reference...)
4. And I can go on... But I won't.

So, those are the practical reason. However, the most important reason is more of a philosophical reason: I do not compromise with something that I think is wrong. And I think this whole global warming hysteria is wrong. And so, even if it does cost me a few extra cents per month, I will stand my ground. Because really, that's all it will save; your lights are NOT the main source of power consumption in your home. It's your refrigerator, your AC, your microwave, your computer, your dryer, and your speaker system that do the bulk of the work.

Most of those things are rated in kilowatts, while your light bulbs are rated in watts. If I leave a 60 watt bulb on continuously for a whole month, that's 43.2 kilowatt hours, or approximately $3.28 in Austin, TX. A 20-watt CFL run for the same time costs $1.09. Your AC run continuously for the same time would be $136.80. Your refrigerator would be $29.55 (like, if you left the door open so it never turned off). Now, if you only a light for, say, 8 hours a day, the normal bulb costs $1.09 a month, and your CFL is $0.36, for a grand total savings of about 73 cents. "But it adds up, right?" Oh yeah. If you live to be 80, you would save $696.19 per bulb. Now that's what I call a retirement plan. I'll keep my full-spectrum incandescent light, thank you very much. Greater safety + better light - minuscule savings + pissing off environmentalists = win!

From my cold, dead hands!

How far will YOU go for BYU football?

So, as you may have known, starting in 2006 the Mountain West Conference made the brilliant decision of getting its own TV network, The Mtn., to broadcast its athletic events. Unfortunately, when they made this deal, the contract that they got made absolutely NO guarantees of distribution. Therefore, even though BYU's 11-2 football seasons in 2006 and 2007 were absolutely amazing and merited extremely high rankings, nobody cared because nobody got to watch! For this reason, I flew from Austin to Provo to watch all but one of the BYU home football games last season.

However, starting August 27, DirecTV is picking up The Mtn. Clearly, this means that we must get DirecTV. I never even had to wonder, "Should I get DirecTV?" It was more like, "How far do I have to go to get DirecTV in my apartment? Who must I pay/bribe/torture/etc. so that I can have it?" So, earlier this month, we checked with the apartment complex, who gave us an okay provided we didn't drill into anything, and called up DirecTV to set up the appointment.

Unfortunately for us, the laws of physics governing orbital mechanics dictate that geosynchronous communication satellites can only be placed in orbit above the equator. Translation: if you live in the northern hemisphere, you better be facing south if you want DirecTV. Well, our apartment faces north. We tried every option we could think of, but none would pass both the apartment complex's rules and give us line of sight to the satellite. The only thing we didn't try (yet) is moving into another apartment in the complex. We seriously considered it, though.

However, this story should have a happy ending after all. As it always does, the Internet comes to the rescue!

See, starting in 2005, a device called a Slingbox has been on sale which allows you to stream video from a TV signal over the internet to a computer or, more recently, a mobile device. You hook the TV into it, you hook it into your internet connection, and you install a program at the computer which talks to SlingMedia's servers, finds your Slingbox, and establishes a connection. And, since my parents are getting DirecTV, being BYU football junkies themselves, I bought them a Slingbox. Assuming I can help them enough over the phone to install it correctly, we'll be able to watch my beloved Cougars roll through the 2008 season undefeated and unchallenged, all the way to a BCS bowl game, which will be mercifully shown on FOX in HD. :)

Gotta love technology!

True Love

You know a man loves you when he will go as far as getting a facial with you to make you happy! Ladies, yall all know it's not as fun when you do this sort of thing alone... so, David joined me!!! I am a lucky woman. :) Now our skin is as smooth as a baby's bottom. (you know you enjoyed it sweetie!)

Shifting Gears

In our latest developing news, Ashley has learned to drive stick! I know, it sounds surprising that a guy from the suburbs of Salt Lake City is teaching a Texan country girl to drive stick, but that's the way it is. Ashley's truck has no AC, and it's ridiculously expensive to fix that, so the only sensible solution is to teach her to drive my car. Since I walk to work, it doesn't inconvenience me at all.

We started Saturday. It was a little rough at first, until I told her she just needed to "feel the car." Kinda like Obi-wan telling Luke to trust his feelings during lightsaber practice with the blast shield down. After that, she got really good at starting from a stop. Then we went out on the road to let her practice shifting gears. We ended up making some drivers really mad, since she was really cautious about getting into the right gear and slowly letting out the clutch, but we made it home in one piece.

Sunday, Ashley was able to get us home from church without a single problem! I suppose she did shift into 3rd instead of 5th once, and 1st instead of 3rd once, but the real critical parts she did perfectly. Way to go Ashley!

Ashley and Rachel

While David was in the other room with a headache, Rachel and I got a little hyper and decided to have a photoshoot. This is probably about half of the photos we actually took that night. :) enjoy! (this is what you get when you reunite 2 sisters) :P

The Dark Knight

So, normally I don't do movie reviews or anything, but Tuesday night Ashley and I went on a date to see The Dark Knight. We LOVED it! It's pretty much the awesomest movie I've seen in a long time. It's got something for *everyone, and it's good for all 2 hours and 30 minutes that it runs. It's also a breath of fresh air for people who are sick of all the limp-wristed liberal pansies that want to negotiate with terrorists, or who frequently ask themselves "What Would Jack Bauer Do?" (Especially since the writer's strike deprived us of 24 this year... Boo!)

Anyway, it is now your solemn duty as an American citizen to go see this movie, and also to educated your fellow Americans on the importance and meaning of the themes portrayed therein, in case they missed it. You won't regret it, I promise.

*I should note by everyone, I mean "anyone who's not looking for a chick flick." I mean, seriously - it's a Batman movie. If you want to see if Batman gets the girl, you should do a little comic book / cartoon show research. Batman never gets the girl. If Batman got the girl, he would cease to be Batman. And being Batman rocks!

Loopy Ashley

So, last night, as usual, Ashley got a little loopy, and said something hilarious I wanted to share with everyone. As she was listing my good qualities, she says:

You're submissive, yet strong. Bold -- and italic!

Now, what that means is anyone's guess. I figured my response should be as female as possible:

Wait a minute - are you saying that I'm overweight and have bad balance?

...Good night everybody!

My little sister, Rachel, is staying with us for a week. She really wanted to go to one of those places where you can paint pottery/ceramics. We used to go a lot when we were kids. Rachel decided to paint a monkey, and David and I painted mug/cups.

They are not bibs! They are mini aprons. lol


Davidey showing his BYU spirit! Gosh he's so cute!


..and that's how it's done :)

Computer Update

Thankfully, as of this morning, the computer has now resumed some of its normal functions, including that of TV and web browser - those are the most important for Ashley and me, respectively. ;) Today I should get the word processor, DVD player, financial adviser, web server, and whatever else I normally have it do for me fixed over the weekend. Hooray!

Computers Have Feelings, Too!

So, recently we posted about the laptop + Ramen noodles incident. Well, unfortunately that was not the end of our computer troubles. Now, the laptop is working fine. However, my desktop computer was very vocal about the lack of attention it was getting because of the new kid on the block. First, it started making grinding noises with its case fans. Then it started randomly restarting. Then, it would cry whenever we tried to put it to bed - not even kidding here. You would shut it down, and it would give you this incessant beep until you manually turned the power off. At least it's a computer, and I won't be jailed for doing that like I would if it were my child...

The final straw came when it refused to access the internet. So, last Saturday I began the process of backing up all my data, so that I could reformat the thing and get a fresh start. Well, halfway through the process I hear a loud popping noise. I thought, "That sounds a lot like a capacitor popping." (It would be too long a story to tell you why I'm familiar with that sound...) But the monitor was still on, the files were still transferring to the external hard drive, and all was well. Supposedly...

After I formatted the computer and installed Windows, I started getting the beep of death when starting up, not just on shutting down. And by Sunday, it wouldn't start up at all. Couldn't even spin the CPU fan anymore. This is what the front room looked like on Monday.

You know you've got a computer geek here - multiple keyboards, motherboard out in the open, tools everywhere, and yes, that's a bag of Lays potato chips over by the guitar. :-) (Notice the tangle of cables to the right - that's what our TV stand now hides beautifully.)

Anyway, as I was tearing everything apart to figure out what was up, I noticed something - the video card had a blown capacitor! (See Mom? My ears ARE good for something!) We replaced that Monday, but it still wouldn't go. So THEN I tore apart the power supply...

"Well, there's your problem!" I've circled it for you. That is another blown capacitor. There's two, actually, but you can't see the second one. And I have no idea how it happened....

Anyway, Tuesday we got a new power supply - no dice there, either. That would indicate that the motherboard has failed, so last night we got one of those. And finally, success! Never have I been more happy to see a Windows logo in my life. I guess my computer felt it was now sufficiently new to be able to look down upon its new, Ramen-consuming sibling.

...And now, to finish actually reformatting and reinstall everything. I will require the faith and prayers of all of you. ;-)

Home Improvement

We now live in the same apartment that I lived in when I first moved to Austin. When you combine the fact that I am a guy with the fact that I don't really care how things look, as long as they work and are as neat as can be reasonably expected, you can imagine that there was very little decorating done before Ashley moved in.

One of the big problems is that the cable jack is very inconveniently placed way to the right of where you'd ever want to put a tv, computer, or anything else. This was not a problem for Bachelor David, who didn't think twice about having a huge tangle of cables as the very first thing you see when you walk in the door. But for the Merriman Family, it's an eyesore. Well, we saw a TV stand in a Bed Bath and Beyond catalog (we get like 3 a week in the mail) for cheap, and so we decided to get and build it together for FHE this week.

Here's Ashley putting on the finishing touches.

Here's a side-by-side of the box and the almost-finished product.

Funny story here. I saw what she was building, and thought, "That's upside down! The glass doors go on the bottom section, not the top!" So I subtly put the box up next to it for comparison and took a picture. Of course, it turns out that she was building it exactly like the instructions said, from the top down, upside-down, and it turned out perfectly - so the joke was on me.

We'll have more pictures soon of the other decorating we've done - enjoy!

Please Do Not Feed The Laptop

The other day I was at work, instant messaging with my wonderful, beautiful, sweet wife Ashley, for whom we recently purchased a new Dell Inspiron 1525. I like it because it's got a Pentium Core Duo at 1.6 GHz and 3 GB of RAM. Ashley likes it because it's purple and has a matching bag. ;) Anyway, back to the story. Suddenly, she signs off without a warning, and I get a panicked call while I'm talking to my boss.

She spilled ramen noodles on the laptop.

I'll bet the conversation was pretty funny to hear from my boss's end of it. Anyway, I came right home. Ashley had turned it off immediately and hung it upside down so it could drain, which was good thinking. It then fell to me to take the thing apart and see what the damage was.


It was my first time taking a laptop apart. Pretty cool, but harder than you think... Once I got the keyboard off (which is what you see above), miraculously there seemed to be no real damage. We dusted some stuff off - I mean, who knows what effect MSG has on electronics? - put it back together, and have had no trouble since. Lucky us!

Oh, this should also set the record straight - I do not have long blonde hair. I have short, brown hair. And no, my hairline is not receding. Much.

Anyway, the moral of this story for the computer illiterate is that human food is not good for laptops - they need power and Youtube videos instead. And for the rest of you, please keep any liquids away from your electronics - and back up anything you have important if Ashley's coming to visit. :p

Squirrels!

So, recently while spending wedding gift cards at Target to beautify our home, Ashley decided she wanted a bird feeder. I'm cool with that, as long as she agrees to clean up after our feathered friends... We got one, as well as some nails, a hammer, and a metal contraption to hang it out on our patio. (That was the fun part - my favorite presents are the ones that say "Some assembly required.")

Soon afterwards, Ashley had a day off from work, and so while she studied, she sat by the window with the camera, watching for birds. And guess what she found? Did you say birds? Wrong! Haha! Oh, what's that? You said squirrels? And that I gave it away with the title? Oh... Touche. Anyway, this is our friend Zatara, the squirrel, stealing our birdseed. He's learning to share, though, so we'll let him stay. Check out some of these awesome moves!

First, he climbs the wall, and makes sure nobody is looking...

...and then he leans clear out from the wall and holds on to the bird feeder (which is hanging, so it swings away from him) while he gets his meal...

...and then he literally hangs by his toenails to enjoy his spoils!

Yep - Zatara's got some serious moves! We have some more pictures of birds we'll put up later, but these are pretty much the best.

Now, for anyone else that wants to keeps squirrels out of their birdseed, I've done some reading on the subject, and there's a couple of things you can do. You can get one of these, which are supposed to be "guaranteed" squirrel proof. Of course, Ashley will tell you that it's not "cute," so it may not be the solution for you. You could also try this, or possibly even add your own chili powder or hot sauce. The reason being that birds cannot feel the hot sensation that comes from chili peppers, but squirrels can. Who knows if the squirrels here close to the border are used to it, but that's the word on the street - err, internet... If we get sick of Zatara, we'll break out the Tabasco. But for now, he's a welcome guest.

Not even photoshopped!

David lets his true colors show at night... Gatta love him! :D What more can I say... :P