Dark Side of the Carton

No, I promise that I didn’t die or forget about this site. The reality is that in the past few weeks I’ve been swamped with freelance work, taking a much needed vacation, and working on some of my personal sites to improve them. I’ve got a few things lined for this site and I’ll try and finish them up in the next week or so. Until then, stay tuned.

I don’t know what mine is either, but apparently Yahoo was unable to save them:

Last week the wife and I went to dinner and went to see The Dark Knight. I don’t know that I would really call myself a huge fan of the Batman movies. I mean, sure, I enjoy them, but I’m not up to speed on the whole Batman saga.

That said, I have always liked Heath Ledger and I really wanted to see his final performance and boy did he deliver. I don’t want to take anything away from the original Joker, Jack, because The Dark Knight had a totally different tone than the first movie with Michael Keaton. Let it be said though, Ledger owned that part. He was by far the most unpredictable villian I’ve seen on the big screen in a long time and I honestly hope the man wins an Oscar for his part.

i think that he did such a good job only serves to make his death even more tragic. That his life was cut short is sad, but that we are all deprived of the best that he had to offer is even worse.

If you haven’t seen the movie, you need to.

I’ve really been slacking off on the whole blogging thing. You see, we went on vacation a few weeks back and I think I am still trying to catch up and recover from it.

When my oldest was a baby, we tried to fly out to San Diego to stay with my relatives that had rented a condo out there. Long story short, we got stranded in Denver with no baby food, diapers, and no car seat. Thanks United! From that point forward we were committed to driving ourselves to our vacation destinations of choice. This is relatively easy if you are travelling to the coast or somewhere near by. We weren’t and we haven’t. Since then we have driven to the East Coast once and the West Coast 2 or 3 times. I forget.

After last year’s trip I decided I was done with the driving thing. I just couldn’t stand 2 days of traveling each way. So this year we decided to head out West again for our first of 2 trips to the great state of California.

This trip was kind of impromptu and then blossomed into a full blown vacation. Whatever, it was a lot of fun.

One important distinction about this trip was that it was Ethan’s first real plane trip. He was far too young to recall the first one. He kind of freaked out about the whole thing all the way up until we got to the airport. My mom somehow managed to convince the gate attendant to let him go sit in the cockpit and meet the pilot. That went a long way towards making the trip start off easily.

We were staying in a condo on the boardwalk down in Mission Beach for the week. We had rented it with my mom and brother. My aunts, cousins, and grandparents also occupied 3 other condos right in that area. You could say that it was a big family reunion and that would be pretty accurate.

With the kids being 4 and 1, I was pretty excited to see how they were going to react to the activities we had planned for the week. The first few days were beach days and it was hilarious to see them run around on the beach. They truly had a blast. It helped that all of my cousins love them to death. I’m the oldest of like 12 or 13 cousins with the youngest of the bunch being 16.

Last year while we were out there we headed to the San Diego Zoo and it was a blast so we made sure to go again this year. I really wish the San Antonio Zoo was 1/2 as big and half as entertaining as that. I mean, I like our Zoo and all that, but it’s really in a world of it’s own.

One of the new things that we made time for this year was Legoland. I went about 10 years ago right after I got out of high school and I loved it. They’ve made a few additions in the last 10 years.

I was really worried that Ethan wouldn’t enjoy himself or appreciate the scope of what it takes to build a 15′ tall skyscraper out of real LEGO blocks. He did and he is still asking to go back. I think when we head back to SoCal this fall that we are going to make the trip down to Carlsbad for a day.

The trip back to San Antonio was pretty easy and I am seriously glad we did the air travel thing instead of driving.

I usually get pretty stressed out on vacation for some reason. I am not a strict timetable type of person, but I just tend to get up tight. This trip I really got to enjoy and didn’t feel up tight about anything. Maybe I wasn’t as worried about the kids since they are a little bit older.

Name: Bee
Manufacturer: Bugaboo
MSRP: $529

Now that I’ve gotten over the initial giddy feeling of this purchase, I am at a point where I can legitimately tell you about it. The Bee is the newest member of the Bugaboo family of products. It’s aimed at parents that live in the city and have reason to fold it up and toss it into a taxi or take it on the subway. For that reason, it’s designed to be stylish, but also very lightweight and compact.

The Bee features very solid but lightweight construction with it’s aluminum frame. The Bee also comes equipped with 4 wheel independent suspension. What that means is that each wheel is independently spring loaded to provide a very smooth ride for your child. The wheels are also very sturdy and foam filled. They seem to allow the stroller to just glide smoothly across any surface. Even a quick stroller around the block is a smooth as can be.

The Bee also features an adjustable handle bar so it can comfortably be used by parents of all size. This was one of the major drawbacks to most strollers with fixed handles.

Another great feature is the ability to have your child face the world or face you. With a few simple steps you can flip the lightweight seat around. One drawback was that with the seat facing you, the stroller didn’t seem to fold up as well. It is recommended to return the seat to forward facing before folding.

Folding up the stroller is as easy as pulling 2 slide locks on the frame. No tricky locks are necessary to keep the stroller folded up. It simply holds it’s position. To unfold, simply place your foot on the brake pedal and push and it pops right up.

The brake is in the center of the back of the stroller and is very easy to engage and unlock with the flip of your foot.

The Bee also packs ample storage space beneath the seat, especially in rear facing position.

In all, the Bee is a fabulous stroller that isn’t packed full of complicated features. It has a simple design that works well and is simple to use. It’s light and sturdy and the seat cover is machine washable for easy cleaning. The price tag is hard to swallow for many people, but if you are planning on having multiple kids then the cost of purchasing a new stroller for subsequent kids it isn’t all that bad. The Bee also has an adapter for holding Graco car seats for $50.

I highly recommend anyone considering a new stroller take a look at the Bee. It is available at Neiman Marcus and at many online retailers.

Last night’s draft was both expected and totally unexpected at the same time. On one hand, the first 3 picks being Rose, Beasley, and Mayo was what just about everyone expected. The rest of the draft field, however, kind of shook things up.

Joe Alexander, one of my favorite prospects, went 8th to the Bucks. I wasn’t expecting him to go anywhere higher than a 12 or 14. Looks like the Bucks realized what a good prospect he was. Another pick that moved up at the last minute was UT’s D.J. Augustin. I think he was a projected 20th pick and he went 9th!

More surprised were revealed when the Spurs went all American and drafted no Euro players. With the 26th pick, the Spurs selected George hill from IUPUI. A surprising move considering there were a slew of players from both Memphis and Kansas left on the board including Joey Dorsey, Mario Chalmers, and Chris Douglas-Roberts (who ended up going 40th in the 2nd round to the Nets).

I’ve got a lot of faith in R.C. and Pop and most of these guys will end up being busts. I just hope our picks are the ones that shine.

There is A LOT of player movement going down as we speak including a deal where Mayo and Love swap teams. Chalmers is going to Miami. Dorsey to Houston. It’s only going to get worse over the next week or so.

One thing is for sure and that is that the West is going to be much more difficult in about 1 or 2 years. I’m preparing myself now for a short streak of getting dominated by teams like the Hornets, Sonics, and Blazers.

To check out the full Draft Board go here. For all the information on the current player movement go here.

Synergy is one of those DotCom era buzzwords that you still occasionally hear from an out of touch executive giving a bad presentation. Synergy also happens to be a piece of software that has significantly contributed to the clean up of my desk here at work.

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Shortly after my wife and I started dating so many years ago, we went to dinner with her family at a quiet little mexican restaurant at the corner of West Ave and NW Military called La Rosita. The owner was a strange man named Fred. Fred had Woo.

What I mean by that was that Fred’s goal in life was to be the most hospitable person on earth and he was. In fact, the local newspaper had nicknamed him “Hospitality Fred.”

The food was good and the service was outstanding. Our usual waiter began prepping our drinks as he saw us walking to our table. They were usually on the table within a minute or so of us arriving at the table. He remembered what we all drank and what our favorite dishes were for close to 6 years.

2 or 3 years ago Fred sold the restaurant to another very nice gentleman that used to run a Luby’s. George was a swell guy that graduated from Texas A&M and he did a good job of making people feel at home, but he was no Fred and it showed. Many customers moved on to other places once Fred was gone. A sad thought considering nothing about this quaint little place had changed except the smiling face at the door.

Last night we decided to get together with my inlaws for dinner and decided to head to La Rostia, or Fred’s as we’d called it. Upon arriving we were greeted with an alarming sight… La Rosita was gone. The signs had been removed and the restaurant was vacant, with only the characteristic neon lights still up and the built in booths adorning the walls. They’d been here not 2 weeks prior for dinner, so the closing must have been a swift one.

A major loss for San Antonio residents indeed, La Rosita was a wonderful place that has been the backdrop for many fond memories over the years. It is with a sad heart that I bid adieu to La Rosita. It’s been grand.

Strollers are not a very “manly” thing to be excited about and so it is with a heavy heart that I have to admit that I am currently geeking out over one of our most recent purchases, a Bugaboo Bee.

My wife and I have 2 children, and over the course of their lives we have owned far too many strollers. We started with a standard Graco travel system (#1) for oldest. That was one heavy stroller and before going on vacation, we bought a Graco Lightrider(#2). We picked up a super cheap umbrella stroller (#3), which we still have, for those quick on the go trips as he got older. Pretty soon he stopped riding in strollers, and then we found out we were having a second child. Time to buy a few more strollers!

We reused one of the strollers we already had, I think, for the first few months and then it was off to buy a Combi lightweight stroller (#4), and a Joovy Sit and Stand (#5), for when the kids are both tired, and then somehow we ended up with a second umbrella stroller (#6).

At this point, it should be obvious that we love buying strollers. After all, my poor ability to fully recall the number we have bought still left us with 6 of the things. I don’t know what it is about the things, but they can be addicting. We have been moderately happy with each of the strollers, but they were either too heavy, too bulky, or they folded in a manner which was totally nonsensical. Needless to say, we were stressing about what to take for the upcoming vacation. Our Sit and Stand is huge and heavy and would necessitate a rental van once we land.

My wife and I started discussing the ability to find a light stroller that was compact and easy to travel with. We were both aware of the Bugaboo brand, but had never considered purchasing one due to the cost. The Bugaboo Cameleon will set you back about $895. A hefty price to swallow for just about anyone when a much cheaper alternative is available.

On Friday, we found out that Bugaboo had released a much more affordable stroller in the form of the Bee. We also found out that they were sold locally at Neiman Marcus. Saturday afternoon we were off to Neiman Marcus to check this thing out and see what the fuss was all about.

After carefully navigating the kids through a maze of items that I can barely afford with an entire paycheck, we found the baby boutique. There it was, in all its glory. We walked out a few minutes later with a bright yellow Bugaboo Bee. Actually, the nice sales lady delivered it all the way to the car for us.

I’ll spare you the trouble of asking the obvious question, “How much was this thing?”

Just know that it wasn’t cheap.

The stroller is really as nice as it appears. It steers like a champ and is super lightweight. In all, if we would have just shelled out the $500 in the first place, we probably would have ended up ahead in the total equation. After all, the total price for all the strollers that have found their way into and then out of our household adds up to a lot more than the price of this single item.

If I haven’t already intrigued you enough to hit google and find out what this thing looks like, let me present you a nice little shot of the Bee:

If you have any specific questions about the Bee, feel free to ask in the comments section.

I’ve never had sushi before. Not until about 2 hours ago that is. My manager has been taking us to lunch as a team every week and this week’s venue was Syn over at Vance Jackson and Huebner.

I’ve never tried sushi before today and I am still not sure what to think about it. I had one bite of a raw tuna roll covered in wasabi. The wasabi was hot. Real hot. I couldn’t taste the raw fish, but I stopped after one bite. The cucumber rolls, tempura rolls, and california rolls were all very tasty though.

At this point I wouldn’t call myself a fan of sushi, but I’m definitely not afraid of it and would feel comfortable ordering a few rolls if I was ever in the situation again.

Oh and Syn was a very neat place. The staff was helpful and nice. Thumbs up on that front from me.