I've been tagged

Deb tagged me in a blog cause I whined last time she didn't tag me, so
I guess that means I've got to play along this time. Bummer I already
posted for the day... I coulda sued this post instead. :-)

Rules:
The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers
the questions about himself or herself. At the end of the post, the
player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their
blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged
and asking them to read your blog.

Ten years ago:
1998. I was rockin' the east coast in one of the area's premiere cover
bands, Flip Like Wilson. Just started dating a girl who I'd date for
close to 5 years, and I was still living in Philly. Had started my own
consulting company and really was just working weekends with the band
and taking an occasional job.

Five things on today's "to do" list:
1. Figure out why the crap Google Analytics isn't tracking storefront
item detail pages
2. Work with Sarah on upcoming work assignment.
3. Do Dishes. Feed Dogs. Change Diapers. All that other house nonsense.
4. Go through music for tomorrow evening's Shareholders event at Vineyard.
5. Figure out how to prioritize all the other things from my to-do list

Three bad habits:
1. Too much TV and not enough one-on-one time with Sarah
2. Eating out way too much
3. Too much time on email

Five places I've lived:
1. Havertown, PA (SW Philly suburb)
2. State College, PA (Go Nittany Lions!)
3. King of Prussia, PA
4. Montgomery Village/Gaithersburg, MD
5. Cincinnati, OH

Five jobs I've had:
1. Drive Thru Convenience Store Clerk
2. Asst. Title Clerk
3. Web Designer
4. Director of IT
5. Manager of Online Advertising

I will tag:
1. Keith
2. Dan
3. YOU!

Memorial Day fun

Had a great time this weekend... a lot going on, and a lot not going
on. Just the way I like it.

Got a chance to go spend Memorial Day picnicing and playing at a local
park. Sarah and I got a picnic lunch together the day before,
consisting of sandwiches, fruit salad, hummus (Yummus!) and pita chips
and some Orangina. Mimi accompanied us and we sat underneath a big
shade tree and ate lunch, Ethan ran around like a crazy man and
learned a new game -- Duck Duck Goose. Thanks Mimi... he won't stop
saying it now. :-)

There was a "thank you" party at church for all members of the tech
team, so we also got a chance to go and hang out and eat free food.
Nothing wrong with that... They also had a Wii setup on a large screen
and had Rock Band running in another corner of the room. I think Ethan
is obsessed, and although I'm not sure right now if he's gonna be a
singer, keyboardist, guitarist or drummer in the future Rezer Rock
Band, I do know that he may go the Jimi Hendrix route and play
left-handed... it was all I could do to get him to hold that guitar
controller the "right" way... he kept wanting to hold it like a lefty.
On another "note", he is starting to match pitch, and his songs now
have a distinct melody and his relative pitch is SPOT ON! It's
amazing...

Speaking of amazing, Ethan is up to like 50 words now (or so it seems)
and is starting to recognize words INSIDE of other words... the best
examples are seeing ETHAN in "Ethan Allan" and NO inside of words like
"KNOW" and "NOT". He also knows the difference between TO and TWO (as
in "T-O- that spells 'to'... not the number..."). Crazy. I got him to
also start counting backwards... and not just 5-4-3-2-1. He's starting
at TWENTY. Yipes. There may be a future for him as a NASA launch
operator. "20-19-18... BLASTOFF!"

We served in the band all weekend as well, so all in all it was a full
weekend. Glad to be back at work (I think) cause there's a lot to do,
but I wish I coulda had another day of doing a lot of nothing. :-)

I used to have cool musician toys...

I recently decided that in order to make some extra money for
vacation, I would start selling stuff that's now not being used
anymore and sitting on my shelves and laying around the house. A 19"
flat panel digital monitor, some powered speakers, and... my theremin.
(GASP!)

Seriously though, I can't say that I ever really used it... it was one
of those cool music toys that I bought when I had money. Now I don't
have money... and I need money... so I sold it. End of story. I am no
longer cool. :-)

Can I just say that I love CraigsList? I posted this (and some other
items) last night and by morning I already had 3 inquiries! We sold
our couch and love seat earlier in the year and now I think we really
need to purge and start getting serious about what we need and what we
DON'T need -- and then spend the time and energy to list the items and
sell them.

Remote Blogging can be fun

This is so much easier that logging in to my blog and then posting.
Most times the page doesn't even load all the way, and then I have to
refresh and do all kinds of other adjustments because of the bandwidth
shortage and firewall issues here at work. But this is much happier.
Yay for Email blogging.

Sarah and I started working on a new site for the Moms group she's
going to be involved with again -- same group, only now our friend Amy
is taking over the leadership role, and Sarah is thinking that this
new direction is going to be a welcome change and will appeal to her
much more. She's really been getting into the web stuff, and is doing
quite well. Most of the changes she's making herself, including
designing graphics, etc. Check out the coolio logo she made (while we
are getting the site set up). She's really quite talented!

http://morethanjustmoms.com

Words to live by

I sure am glad I can post this way now.

Posting remotely

I love technology. I love the fact that I could post to my blog from
my phone if I wanted to. I just don't want to right now.

Today we're in post-party-slowdown-mode. Sarah V stayed over last
night, we took her to Skyline for her first Cincinnati-style chili,
and we'e getting ready to head out to Ikea for some window shopping
and Swedish meatballs after finishing a rousing game of Ticket To
Ride. Ah... Sundays.

My Little Brainiac

Ethan's getting so FREAKING smart. I'm not sure if he's actually just brilliant or if he's got a photographic memory, but he's doing some things that are really freaking me out.

Ethan's got this little puzzle with cut out pieces of race cars, all with their own numbers from 1-10. They are out of order on the puzzle, and are alos all different shapes. I was handing him the pieces the other day and he was putting it together SO fast -- hardly even looking at the pieces -- that I decided to test him. First I picked up each piece and asked "Where does this go?" and he promptly took it and placed it in the spot. Then, I actually held the pieces BACKWARDS (so the BLANK side was showing -- just the car outline) and asked what numbers they were.... and he got 8 out of 10 right. Then -- I asked him where the pieces went -- BACKWARDS again -- and he got them ALL right. So basically this means that either he has memorized the shapes and the numbers and the positions on the board, or he's got some sort of crazy spatial recognition ability of some sort. Either way, it floored me.

He also reads about 30 words now. Every night he's reading flashcards like RUN, STOP, GO, YOU, etc as well as recognizing the diff between GOD and DOG. He also has a number of CAT-HAT-FAT books that he blows through in about 30 seconds. Crazy. I want to encourage him to continue on this path, and Sarah is doing an amazing job, but I am seriously frightened that at some point he will be smarter than me. Like maybe even next year.

Well, at least he still poops in his pants. I've at least got THAT still over him. :-)

Birthday Parties and Backyard Swamps

So we got to celebrate two events this week... Mother's Day and Sarah's 30th! Needless to say it was made a little stressful by the fact that I was participating in a conference at church (2 all day sessions, one of them being on Sarah's actual Bday), we had way more things that we needed to purchase than we had money for, and E was a little out-of-sorts. We made it through thanks to some help from friends and family, a few well-times phone calls, Emails and visits, and a nice party that we managed to have today. Sarah V came down from Indy, and Headoo & Co. came up from KY, along with Benji & Liz from IL. We made all kinds of yumminess, including some creme brulee ice ream in our ice cream maker! We also had a great cake made specially for S by a woman from church who just started her own business.



Ethan had a great time playing ball with Uncle Benji and Aunt Lizzie outside, and they even got to play ring around the rosie too!




During the week, we got to go out to eat at a new place near church, plus we escaped on Thunight to go see a 2nd run of "Vantage Point" at the Dollar Saver theater near our house while Mimi watched E. All in all, I think everything came out great.

Oh -- and I got a chance to cut the grass! Finally! Now I can actually see the dogs when they go outside... and they don't get swallowed up in the Bog. It was a bit tricky, since our backyard kinda resembled a minefield with the puddles of water, dog doodies and tree roots every 3 feet or so. I had to keep the lawnmower on its back wheels just to be able to push it around... but eventually it all got completed. Not looking forward to the next mow....

Ethan's Noggin

Ethan is quite the active child, and yesterday's experience only goes to prove that fact...

About 5 minutes from the end of the last service at church, I looked up on the screen and saw Ethan's number on the "kid call" monitor... the digital sign where they post numbers of the children that are in need of parental assistance. Since Ethan never has had a problem like this -- EVER -- I figured that something out of the ordinary must have happened... and I was right.


Apparently he fell and hit his "noggin" and ended up with 1/2" long split in his forehead over his right eye. He was absolutely fine, but we ended up having to go over to get 2 stitches at Children's Hospital. After talking with him about the incident, we found out that he fell because
"David pushed him" and David pushed him because "I took his drink". Well there... that settles it.

He was gret at the doc, and they were very good with him -- told him that when they put him in the restraints, it was like he was going to be getting a big "hug" and that he could have a lollipop afterwards. He did, and all was good.

I'm so glad E has Sarah's pain tolerance -- and that he's so chill about everything. It was a long afternoon, but yet another instance of E performing well under pressure... :-)

This. Is. SICK.

Jordan Rudess from Dream Theater playing a "fretless" keyboard, called the Haken Continuum. There's another video on the HakenAudio.com website that shows the performance LIVE. So cool. I want one.

Duct Tape - the stuff of legends.

Saw something funny today on SlashDot today and thought I'd share:

There are only 3 things needed to fix anything in the universe:

1. Duct Tape


2. WD-40


3. A Hammer

If it moves and it shouldn't - use Duct Tape...

If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40 ...

If neither of those work, use the hammer.

Garden Gnomes

Well, we're off to a flying start. We dug up the old nasty "decorative" grasses and planted 4 new mini-azalea bushes, and they're starting to bloom. I also dug out the "nasty trees" (mini decorative evergreens that had dried to a beautiful shade of brown). and we planted our first flowerbox. In a mad frenzy of gardening exuberance, Sarah and I went over to check out the local gardening place and MAN IS IT COOL. My mom would love it... and the people there seem quite knowledgable. A nice lady talked Sarah through everything that needed to happen for planting a flowerbox, the types of flowers to put in there, and how to arrange it. Luckily, we already had the flowerbox mounted on the front side of our house, so all we had to do was fill it up! We bought some really nice things, and are looking forward to them starting to fill out. I believe Sarah has some pictures posted in her Picasa gallery, so I will only include a few snaps here.

One word or warning: Never try to water delicate flowers using a garden hose -- one of our gorgeous Dahlias bit the dust... stupid Jeff. Sorry Sarah. :-(

Luckily the grass is also actually starting to come up in our back yard (formerly known as "Lake Rezer") and its filling in the doggie-made mud path. It's nice to not really need to worry about hosing down the pups every time they come in from a trip outside... now all I have to do is actually mow the grass. Thanks for the lawnmower Dad!

Some other notes of interest:

We've been grilling out a bit as well and it's nice to be able to take advantage of our grill and back deck.

Jeff almost burned the house down when attempting to burn off some accumulated tree branches etc in our firepit on a semi-windy day. Good thing I had a hose handy... Moral of the Story: Even Eagle Scouts occasionally do stupid stuff with fire.

Sarah and I started dieting (HerbaLife) and are doing well. It's going to help a lot to have a routine, not have to worry about what we're eating all the time and it will also save us money! Yee haw!

Looking forward to Sarah's 30th... we'll probably go to King's Island for the day, go to a nice restaurant and then have a little family party... She's got a wishlist on Amazon under sarah@rezer.com if anyone wants to get her a little "You're Old Now" gift.

All for now...

March Madness

So, it's been a while since I posted... but not so long as my friend Dan... :-)

(Hey Dan, I'm still waiting for "Part Trois")

March was a crazy month full of nice tax returns (HOORAY!), promotions/raises, some unexpected bargains, grand opening of IKEA, visits with family, etc etc etc. A lot actually happened that won't get written about - I'll try to be better next time.

After much CraigsList hunting (basically all by Sarah), we were able to purchase a sectional for the basement and finally get rid of that old futon we'd been using. The problem with our basement is that it's real hard to get larger pieces of furniture down there due to the angle, door width, etc... so a sectional was a good deal. The only problem -- it was MONSTROUS. After a trip to Louisville (2 hours away), a U-Haul rental and multiple trips to the ATM to get cash, we finally got all the pieces set up in the basement except for one -- which now sits sadly in our shed outside. If it wasn't the size of Long Island, it might have all fit...

Another fun thing we got to do last month was get really involved with "Ticket To Ride", a board game we fell in love with at a visit to travelingirl76/bulldogslair's place. They have multiple versions of the game, so we ended up purchasing the European edition so we could trade with our friends Dean and Amy, who have the US version. The game is really cool -- you build train routes between different cities in an attempt to connect cities and fulfill your "destination cards". The longer the route, the more points you get... but you only have a limited number of trains, and there are only a limited number of tracks, so you need to plan carefully! It's a great game, and we've been able to introduce a number of family members to it. Best of all, it's something Sarah and I can play by ourselves and still have fun!

We also got a chance to visit with Mom and Dad (and Token!) when they came for a visit the week preceding Easter... it was great to have them FINALLY see the house, and Dad and I got a chance to tackle some house projects, even though the weather was nasty. Because I wasn't able to take too much time off of work, Dad even decided to take care of some projects on his own... and it was much appreciated! We are looking forward to another visit soon -- as soon as we can -- and can't wait to see everyone back in Philly again!

I got a promotion and raise as well, and am very excited about my future here at F+W. I'll be working with my boss Larry a lot more in the years to come, and will also be assisting a team of people in our Wisconsin office that will take care of the reporting and campaign management that I had been working on. I also get to assist in hiring a new business analyst that will help us look at our web advertising campaigns, review their effectiveness, and assist in finding new ways to generate and maximize our online revenues. (If you want more of a description, feel free to call or Email... but I figured most people's eyes would start to glaze over if I kept talking any more about ROI, sell-through percent and clickthrough rates!)

More to come...

To Philly and Back Again.... a Rezer Tale

Well, vacation #1 of 2008 is over and done. It was quite the adventure, and I know that we all had a fantastic time. Got to spend some quality time with Mom and Dad, visited friends for an overnighter in MD, went out to a SUPERB restaurant in Philly called POD (thanks Christine!) and got to spend time with cousins and other family.

Sarah drove the whole way cause we took her stickshift (and I can't drive it yet), but it really wasn't too bad a drive. We stopped half-way on the trip there, but did the whole journey on the return trip in one day. It would have been totally uneventful if: #1 Ethan hadn't wet through THREE pair of pants during the trip and #2 we hadn't left the first set of wet clothes at the Cracker Barrel in Washington PA. Ugh. Luckily they are sending them back to us via US MAIL. Hopefully they're not too nasty when they arrive. :-)

Our night out at Christine's restaurant POD was phenominal. She's a server there and knew exactly what to order and not only did we get a few free dishes, we also got the 20% discount! We ate, and ATE, and ATE... it was easily one of the top 3 meals I've ever had, and possibly even higher. The food was all fantastic, and I even had an eye-opening encounter with FANTASTIC sushi. Seriously. I had it once or twice before and it was BAD, so I swore I'd never eat it again. But this was DARN GOOD. It was prepared specially for us and was "off-menu", and man was it tasty! Even my non-alcoholic drink was good -- White Peach Soda with Mint. MMMMMMM.

Time down in MD was good as always -- Mandy made a superb roast with all kinds of yumminess, and we got to spend time hanging out with she and Keith as well as the Cunninghams. After dinner we played a great game called Ticket To Ride -- kind of like RISK meets connect the dots. Awesome! :-)

The next morning Keith made soem KICK-BUTT specially-made omelettes and then after some hugs, we headed over to the Vaughns for lunch -- home made chicken soup, veggies, cheese and crackers. It was good to see them and spend some time, even if it was only a few hours. During the visit, I even got to visit Ken's private bar in the basement and sample three homebrews - an English bitter, a real ginger beer and an American Porter. What a TREAT! It's something I'm really interested in getting into, and hopefully this time I'll actually do it!

It was sad to leave them all, espcially our friends in Maryland, but nice knowing that we'll be seeing them again in April or May, and my parents will be coming for a visit in a few more weeks! That definitely makes parting such less sweet sorrow... :-)

Well - back to the grind...

What Time Am I?

You’re the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it’s not because you’re lazy – it’s because you know there’s no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that’s held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky.

The carnage continues

Our dogs are either:

1) The unluckiest canines ever
2) The biggest clutzes ever
3) Have a death-wish (or at least have some sort of sado-masochistic streak)
4) All of the above.

We had to take Marie to the emergency vet last night because she ripped the dew claw on one of her front legs. Blood. Nasty. Limping, whining. And she NEVER whines. EVER.

Greyhounds have a tremendously high pain tolerance and almost NEVER show pain unless it's pretty severe. They are so "ho-hum, la-de-da" about medical procedures -- so much that they are the donor of choice when blood is needed for another animals.

Just last month (on my birthday) we had to take Donny in because he stepped on something outside and punctured his front paw between the toes. Now Marie. And these animals have had a history... Donny's had shoulder and leg problems before, plus had some teeth extracted -- greyhounds have notoriously bad teeth. And a few years ago Marie had some surgery and stitches and stuff to repair a gash in her chest. Maybe some of you remember... ugh.

Well, we got lucky cause the vet tech was able to fix her all up by trimming up the nail and getting the bleeding to stop, and it wasn't as bad as originally thought... although still quite painful. We are going to have to do something about our backyard. I don't know if this is all happening because they're tearing around like crazy back there, or because of all the exposed tree roots, frozen ground and lanscaping rocks... who knows. Anyone know a good landscaper?

My kid is cute

Maybe some of you have seen this, but I thought I'd bump it again...

Two days in a row?

Yes, it's true. The child is in bed for his afternoon nap, Sarah's on the couch reading, and I'm just hanging out. Sure, there's tons to do... but why do it all when there's blogging to be done?

I'm going to be moving the old Rezer pic gallery from rezer.com over to my Picasa Gallery cause I'm running outta space on my server. Seems like my host decided to change their hosting plan, so I'm unfortunately going to have to downsize in order to stay within their storage limits. This means removing files, pix, music, etc... Not horrible, but still a pain in the butt. The main issue, however will be that it will also affect my clients, and I'm starting to look for a new host... which means eventually changing all the DNS, moving sites and files, setting up Email addresses, etc... and, oh yeah, paying more. Ugh.

Anyone know of a good VPS hosting company? Don't care if it's Linux or Windows... but I think Linux is preferred since I have a few clients using PHPList and PHPForms. Lemme know... and the cheaper, the better...

Got a new webcam, too, courtesy of GeGwe and Pop (the Logitech Fusion). Quite nice. We got hooked up over Windows Live and have already made 2 or 3 video calls to them. The quality is not bad at all, and audio is pretty clear. It's not like "being there", but it's probably the next best thing. If anyone's out there with a similar setup, lemme know... we'll chat. Windows Live ID is jrezer at live.com.

PS: My buddy Erik is launching his second new product, Pizza Box Baseball, on Feb 17. Check out the site for Pizza Box Football (designed by me, of course) and look for the Pizza Box Baseball site soon!

And we have our first post of 2008...

Yes. I am lame. I say it often. So does Sarah. But that's OK...

Some notable items worth a mention...

#1 -- We had a major plumbing leak. Still trying to put the kitchen back together, but basically we needed to rip out the sink, garbage disposal, countertop and a cabinet so the plumbers could replace some old rotted-out copper pipe. It took me the better part of 4 evenings, doing a little at a time. Unfortunately the previous owners made it almost impossible to just remove the little piece of countertop I needed to without pulling out the stuff it was attached to. And to make matters worse, they used screws that were way too skinny for the job... so when trying to take them out, all the heads snapped off. Nice. This basically meant that I needed to do use a combination of a 2x4, hacksaw, hammer and tire-iron to pull out the cabinet. All while trying NOT to wake up Ethan. Let me tell you, it was QUITE the undertaking.

Anyway, it all got completed, they fixed the pipe, and luckily it was all covered under our Homeowner's Warranty, so we paid a grand total of $100. Not bad.

#2 -- Our TABLE is here! For those of who who remember the saga of the missing table, you'll recall that we needed to order a new one and it was taking 12 weeks to build and then ship. Well, it;'s here. The delivery company didn't bring it inside like they were SUPPOSED to, so Sarah and I had to muscle it off the pallate in the driveway and bring it up the stairs and inside, where we assembled it. And man... let me tell you... that table is SOLID. Freaking heavy. It's actually deceptively heavy. At least we know it's real wood... or mabe concrete. :-)

Ethan "helped" us put it together, and now it's positioned nicely in our dining room. We "retired" the highchair, and now Ethan has taken his place at "the big people table". Sarah has him sitting on pillows to eat... I haven't witnessed it yet, but I'm sure it's cute!

#3 -- We found our video camera bag, old tapes and charger! In the middle of a cleaning/purging frenzy upstairs, there it was... nestled right inside a box of old shoes. Why? I don't know... but there it was. It had been missing since we left MD in May... SO glad it's back. Now we can start filming again... although our digital camera did quite a nice job in its absence.

That's all for now... more later...

Tree roots and skin staples

Ah... an intriguing title... no? Well, read on...

Donny and Marie were out for their afternoon chase the other day and Donny apparently cut his foot on something. No biggee, we thought... just cleaned it up a little and put him in his crate for the evening at about 5:30 since we were going out for my birthday dinner at Red Robin. By the time we came back, his foot had swollen up and he was limping pretty badly. After taking a look at it, it seemed like he had a small hole up underneath the toe on his front paw.

Now if you know anything about greyhounds, they do not show pain AT ALL. For him to be limping the way he was, we knew he must have really been in pain. So... off to the emergency vet we go. Sarah and I are old pros at this by now, what with Marie's frequent trips back when she needed her chest sown up multiple times after having the skin ripped open during a Christmas stay at a border... but that's a story for another time...

I called the place the vet recommended, and luckily they were open 24 hours. No appt necessary, and it's the largest facility in the tri-county area. We decided that Sarah would stay with Ethan while I took The Dons with me, so Sarah grabbed Donny's pillow, while I grabbed the Donster -- man is he heavy! -- in a cradle-carry and we went out to the car. He didn't squirm or anything, so I know he was really hurting. It was 10:30pm on my birthday. Happy Birthday, Jeff... so much for that Chimay chillin' in the fridge.

After an examination by the vet, he told me there was a puncture wound about 1/4" wide under the toe (which I had seen earlier), and they would need to sedate Donny, clean out the wound, and then staple it shut. He also recommended an X-ray, which I agreed with... just to make sure nothing was broken. It was now 12:15a...

Luckily there was nothing broken -- which would have been a whole 'nutha ball-o-wax. Donny came through with flying colors, and although he was a bit disoriented from the drugs, he limped out to the car and we headed home 1:40a...

2:15a... back home. Carried the dog inside. He didn't want to eat... just wanted to lay down somewhere. I obliged. And then went to bed myself. Whoopie... and now it's no longer my birthday. Oh well.

So we think that we're gonna have to do something in the backyard. Marie cut herslef the other day while outside, and my guess is Donny did something similar by stepping on an exposed tree root or stick or rock or something. The ground is really uneven out there, and we might have to resort to having a landscapre come in and even everything out, re-sod, etc. -- most likely a $1000+ proposition. It's either that or keep spending hundreds of dollars on doggie foot therapy. Yuk. There's no good option...

Happy New Year Everyone. For all my "animal lover" friends out there...

May your furry friends be in perfect health
And may every day in 2008 and forward
Be a reminder of what joy they bring to our lives.
Despite the hardships, vet bills, messy feet and accidents on the floor,
Despite the late night walks in the cold and incessant barking,
Despite their curious nature that often causes more harm than good...
We wouldn't trade it for anything,
Our lives are better for having them here with us.