2014 Trots In

The Year of the Horse arrives, and we might actually make it to midnight this year!

Hanks Makes Banks

We went and saw Saving Mr. Banks. Can't go wrong with Hanks, Thompson and Giamatti. Great film.

Rightful Owner

Time to head home and get our puppies back, and so we return the guest bed to its rightful owner, Gauge the cat and thank her for her nightly purrformances (couldn't resist a cat pun.)

Toyed Out

Some in the group were overwhelmed by this flurry of activity.

Iced Over

Today we made people to live in the houses constructed yesterday. Highlights include Tron gingerbread man (far left - credit Lonnie), Spider-gingerbread man (top - credit me), and Grievous Facial Wound gingerbread man (bottom - credit Payton) the result of a tragic glitter spill. Mari and Amanda were more concerned with making cookies that actually looked like they belonged with Christmas.

Gingerly

With Payton under the weather we stuck with inside activities like the classic gingerbread house construction.

Chimney Stuffer

He must have screwed up the lists this year, I don't remember being this good.

Treeson

The first night was spent relaxing and waiting for Santa.

Southern Stockings

We've made it to Grayson to enjoy Christmas with the Irelands.

Reread

I've mentioned Goodreads before. They sent out an e-mail with a list of all the books I've read this year, not something I've really thought about before, but it was surprisingly interesting to go back through them and remember things. Always nice when a service offers up something unexpected but cool.

Laserdog

This was supposed to show how cute the three of them were, all lined up begging for food from Mari's dinner. Then BAM! Laserdog attacks. Nobody expects the laserdog attack.

Home Slice

A short indie game with an interesting concept. It all rests on the strength of the story. There's no puzzles, no action, you just wander around a very detailed house picking up objects and going through drawers trying to figure out where your family went while you were away on a trip. It works too. More of an art project than a game really.

Really FedEx Friendly

I think we need an intervention. And to buy the FedEx guy a truss.

Speaker

We got a new VOIP phone system put in this week at and they needed someone to redo all of our canned "Thank you for calling, our options have changed, blah, blah, blah" recordings. Through some kind of rigged informal poll I got voted best voice of JIS and was suckered into the job (I personally thought a woman's voice was more appropriate, but nobody listened.) So now when you call JIS, much like James Earl Jones and CNN, you get me saying "This is JIS." I won't let the fame go to my head. Much.

Trafficking In Snow

Winter is upon us and pretty much every way into Nashville is a total mess this morning. It took two hours to get into work.

Part Finder

Another of those small reminders of how times have changed. I needed a replacement drive for a failed tape backup unit, the tech found the part number but there were two different options depending on the size of the tape slot. In the past this would have been a comedy of trying to describe the part I had and compare it to something else and hope the tech understood what I was talking about. Now I just snap a picture with my phone and e-mail it to him. Done.

FedEx Friendly

Christmas is nigh.

WOTM

Closing out 2013.

Minionated

The Irelands headed home today, Lonnie has to work tonight. I had forgotten to mention they brought Minion with them. Minion and Tara were almost instant best friends and they played constantly through the visit. The old girl is wiped out today.