Long time…

Dudley might get bored at work, so I wanted to post something fast…

It’s been a while since I’ve written.  Life’s been pretty busy.  Good, but busy.  A lot of things have happend since the last time I wrote.  I’ll fill ya in later on the past… but lets talk about the future!

Sheena and I are trying to plan out some mini trips and one big trip.  We’ll be going to Galveston with a few friends to do a bike ride along the seawall… that should be pretty fun.  Soon after that, we’ll be heading to Chicago for a friend’s wedding and to hang out with some good friends as well.  Then our big trip this year will be India!  We’re both really looking forward to that.  Its been a while since I’ve been, so it should be fun.

Ok.. until next time….

Quality Customer Service

I recently bought 2 suites from the Men’s Warehouse.   Before that, I had one standard black suit that I did everything in… weddings, funerals, sound gigs for CCM, you name it…  With a lot of miles under that suit a new one was needed.  Then Men’s Warehouse came out with the great “2 for 1 sale”.  How could I pass that up, right?  So I checked out a few suits and Donnie, the sales rep that helped me out, walked me thourgh everything that I would need to know about a suit.  Its been a while since I purchased a suit, so I wasn’t used to all the pampering that he did, such as helping me put on the suit jacket, picking out matching shoes, ties and shirts and preping the clothing before I tried any of it on… it was a bit much, but I really did appreciate it.  I had to get some alterations done on both suits and there was a miscommunication as to what date one of the suits would be ready.  Even with that set back, I still wasn’t bothered because of the great customer service that I had experienced.  If you’re looking for a suit, and you’re in the Sugarland area, go see Donnie at the Men’s Warehouse.  He’ll definetly take care of ya.

A weekend in Phoenix

On January 16th, 2009, Sheena and I along with other friends of ours went to Phoenix, AZ for Earl’s wedding.  I didnt have high expectation for the city itself, but I was totally wrong!  Maybe it was the fact that we went to the desert in “winter”, but the weather was excellent.  Also there was plenty to see and a lot of outdoorsy things to do.  That same weekend was the P.F. Changs fun run which cut right in front of our hotel on sunday morning… we saw a sea of people run throughout the town.  Somewhat inspiring, but as they were running, I was driving along side them looking for a place to eat!  On top of that, The Cardinals played that weekend to make their way into the Big Game, which is this coming Sunday.  Needless to say it was a big weekend for Phoenix… Cardinals win their chance to be number 1, thousands of people ran though her city streets and Earl and Asha got married!  What else could you ask for in a weekend?

New Years Resolution?

So we’re 8 days into 2009…  As usual, people tend to create New Years Resolutions.  I don’t believe in that.  If its something worth doing, why not just start when you think of it, right?  But at the same token, beginning something in the New Year allows us to really dedicate our time and start fresh.  With all that said, I sorta made a new years resolution/deal with Sheena.  We agreed that for every 20 minutes we spend on our elliptical, we earn $5 towards anything we want to buy (the idea was inspired by our friend Maya).  I would like to buy a flat screen TV for my office and Sheena wants books for her future library.  I did the math and for a decent TV, it’ll take me 6 to 9 months!  Regardless, its all in the effort to get back in shape and not spend frivolously.  On the flip side of that, we were inspired by an blog found on the Houston Chronicle to visit the numerous burger joints found around Houston.  A burger eating committee is being formed and we’re ready to eat!

So you can see my conflict…. workout and save money; or explore Houston, spend money and eat burgers….  Hopefully I can find a balace between the two.

Discovering Discovery Green

A few days ago, Sheena and I met up at Discovery Green before we headed out to a friend’s birthday party.  I always saw it from my office building, but never had a chance to check it out… its much larger than I thought.  Its a really cool place to just hang out.  Right now they’ve got an ice skating ring out, there’s a pavilion to host concerts at, a few restaurants and just green space to just stretch out at…. Its a welcomed addition to Houston’s downtown.

Our 1st Christmas

This Christmas was a busy one.  It seems like everyday was jam packed with things to do, which is great!  Since we hosted Thanksgiving at our house with my side of the family and our church (LWCC), we decided to do Christmas at our house and host Sheena’s side of the family and her former church (Sharon).  Its was pretty fun.  I was a bit nervous about the food, on if we’d have enough, but that clearly was not a problem based on the fact that its been almost a week and I’m still eating food from Christmas!  Sheena and I cooked up the turkey and we had family members bring their specialties to the house.  Kinda like a pot luck.   Here’s a pic of our turkey: 

ready to eat

Here’s a pic of it after I blew it up.. I mean carved it: 

shotgun to yo guts!

Blesson even brought a gingerbread house

After everything settled at our house, we went over to Wes and Kasey’s house in Kingwood for a “leftover” party.  We didnt get home until 6am!  Since I was up, Blesson and I decided to check out the doorbusters….  after checking some stores out, getting my oil changed and filling up my gas, I didnt get home until 8:30am!  Productive, yes.  Smart, no.

The next day (Friday) Sheena and I met up with my old buddies from highschool (we refer to ourselves as G-Tribe… it was cool back then!  dont judge!) and had a great meal at Chuy’s.  After that they all came over to the house to kick it and some other friends came as well.. we basically had our own “leftover” party.   

time to eat... again

 Stan brought over the Wii and we played games all night. 

Fists of Fury

We also played some Mad Gab. 

Saturday we went to my cousin’s house for their 2 year anniversary and just hung out.  Sunday was LWCC’s sunday school anniversary where the kids put on some great shows.. I’m sure there are videos and pics on facebooks, so check ‘em out!

Needless to say, it was a full weekend and I’m looking foward to the next one.. New Years!

Birth of Christianity

Monday, Dec. 22nd.  Sheena and I, along with Jimmy and Lisa went to the Museum of Natural Science to get a preview of an exhibit called the Birth of Christianity.

lecture time!

  Vinson & Elkins (the firm I work for) had a special preview of this exhibit for it’s employees and family/friends.  It was amazing!  We couldn’t take pics of the exhibit itself, but its definitely worth going to check out!  There was a brief lecture by Dr. Weston Fields.  He briefly explained the history of attaining these precious artifacts. 

The best part of the whole evening you may ask?  Well, it was the food!  j/k.. the scrolls were pretty awesome, but the food was a close second.  There was a spinach dip with chipotle, mixed in with deliciousness… I mean… it was just good…. but that’s not all, they had a dessert bar too!  It was a bit of a scavenger hunt to find ‘em, but well worth it!

The sad thing about it all, this was my first time in that Museum!  I’ve lived in Houston all my life and I’ve never checked it out…  Its time to explore new grounds.

Rockin Weekend

The weekend before Christmas.  Sheena and I had a big weekend planned and we had a great time!  It started off with a small get-together at Jimmy’s house for some Rock Band on Friday night. 

life imitates art

  Needless to say, Rock Band ROCKS!  Its always fun to just hang with good friends.  Saturday wasnt a planned busy day, but it turned out to be a full day.  It started with meeting up with Dad and Blesson to do some shopping… that lasted for the first half of the day and then Sheena and I ended the night at Benson and Marsha’s house for some of the best BBQ Burgars brought to us by Joe and Sigil…

mmmmmm.....

 those boys know how to work a grill!  Sunday, we threw Julie (Pokie’s wife) a surprise birthday party which turned out great.

Birthday gal!

  Again, good times, good company.  Christmas is around the corner and we’ve got Sheena’s side of the family coming over along with people from her former church.  It should be another fun event!

A night with an icon

So today Sheena and I went to a Refresh meeting, a networking group for tech peeps, and the main speaker was none but the creater of wordpress, Matt Mullenweg.  I was soo inspired I decided to start my own wordpress blog.  This guy is chalk full of knowledge and I’m very happy that I went along with Sheena!  He is beyond his years!  I wish I could have talked to him one on one to really pick his brain….  Afterwards we ended up going to Pappadeux for dinner (had some wedding gift cards to use up), so needless to say, I’m stuffed!  Till next time…