Category: Christine & John

Posted on by John

In the past 3 weekends, Christine and I have attended three weddings. The spring really is wedding season I guess. We still have 2 more on our dance card in the coming couple of months.

I wrote a little about the wedding we attended in Guanajuato and posted the photos from it here. The Hill-Hernandez wedding was a lot of fun, and for us was a mini-vacation to a place tht we’d long wanted to visit.

On the weekend of June 4th, Christine, Jack and I flew up to Dallas to attend Angela Pierce’s wedding to David Waters (Angela was Christine’s roommate in college). Christine was one of the bride’s maids in the wedding. Jack wore his little white wedding outfit (that just barely fits him anymore) and was super cute. He did well at the wedding, but since it was a full Catholic Mass, we had to take a break about half way through to walk around a bit out in the foyer of the church, and to change diapers. Grandmother Mary was with us too, so she took care of Jack a little at the wedding and then at the reception. The reception was too much fun. Angela and David hired a mariachi band (2nd wedding in two weeks with a mariachi band, woohoo!) and after they left, the DJ was pretty good. Jack left the reception with Mary when he had had enough of the loud noise and strange people… not that anyone there was strange, just strange to him – 😉

Christine and I stayed until the wee hours of the morning… ok, maybe we stayed until 10:30 or so, but we closed the party down. And man were we partying. Christine was dancing. I was dancing. We danced with each other, and with other people… it was a lot of fun and it was great to stay out all night with friends.

Photos from the Pierce-Waters Wedding here.

Then, this past weekend (June 11th) we went to Eagle Lake to attend Stefan Schuster’s wedding to his fiance Periwinkle Ferguson. They were married at 5:30 p.m. on a glorious Saturday evening outside (which in Texas means it was 105°F). But that didn’t slow anybody down, least of all Jack. It was a really nice small heartfelt wedding ceremony in the bride’s proverbial backyard (he father owns the house that the wedding was held at), mixing traditional wedding elements with folk elements, and lots of love. They wrote their own vows, and you could tell they were very special and from the heart. Jack wore his little white wedding outfit again (and I think this’ll be the last time). Jack played in the grass at my feet during the ceremony, and because it was so hot outside, we were allowed to drink beer during the wedding (rock on! Actually, I don’t know if we were allowed, but TJ’s husband Jeff graciously brought me a Shiner Bock, so I had to drink it!)

Photos from the wedding are here. Sorry that they’re pretty much all of Jack…

We stayed at the Schuster wedding until about 8:30 p.m. before making the trek back to Austin (about an hour and a half drive at 90 miles per hour). Did you know that bugs make a really loud smack on the front windshield of a Volvo late at night? I swear we must have hit every damn bug between Eagle Lake and Austin Saturday night. It sounded like I was sitting inside of a snare drum as we rolled down the highway, and when I went to look at the car Sunday morning, it looked as if the car was used as a prop in the movie Starship Troopers. ICK!

So, three weddings in three weekends (and we actually had to miss Jill and David Aronson’s (former co-worker) wedding on June 4th) and we’re beat. We’re taking the next weekend off (Stephanie Stein’s (old Bellville family friends) wedding is this coming weekend, and I just dont think we have the energy to make it to it, and to do all of the stuff around the house that we’ve been meaning to do but have been putting off).

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 281 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

I was quoted in the local paper today as a “Mac user”. Funny… I will never forget one of my bosses in college telling me I was never going to get anywhere in business if I was a Mac user. Sure, being a Mac user hasn’t gotten me anywhere in business specifically, but it hasn’t hurt me either:

Apple’s switch to Intel: Some say it’s smart; others say it was inevitable.

By Helen Chernikoff
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, June 13, 2005
Time was, Mac fans would have been outraged by any concession, or even connection, to Microsoft Corp. or Intel Corp.

Those days are gone. Apple Computer Inc. made peace with Microsoft in 1997. Last week, Apple said it will switch to Intel chips by 2007.

And that’s OK with many Mac loyalists. “There was some cachet to being an iconoclast, to being different, ” said Bob LeVitus, the Central Texas author of 49 books about the company’s computers. “But there are downsides to the road less traveled.”

Chips made by Motorola Inc. (now Freescale Semiconductor Inc.) and, later, IBM Corp. have been losing ground to Intel for years. Like Apple’s unique software, they were one more barrier between Macs and the rest of the computing world.

Many Apple enthusiasts not only have accepted the change, they’ve embraced it.

Theories abound as to why. Apparently, Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ charisma did the trick.

“Whatever (Jobs) says is true. It doesn’t matter how true it is, everybody believes it, and it’s true, ” said John Engler, a Mac user and local salesman for a New York multimedia company.

Macs remain as offbeat as ever, others say. What makes Macs special is their sleek design and user-friendly software, said Kramer Wetzel, the kind of Mac partisan who, upon entering a coffee shop, automatically tallies the iBooks versus other makers’ laptops.

“It’s like a car: It’s still going to be a steering wheel, a brake and a gas pedal. The engine doesn’t make that much difference, ” said John Booher, who owns the Wizard of Austin, a computer training and support outfit.

Switching to the Intel chip is just good business, he added.

Jobs pulled the plug on PowerPC because the alliance didn’t deliver the goods, the superfast, 3-gigahertz chip he’d promised the Apple faithful two years ago, Booher said. Intel’s massive scale — it provides more than 80 percent of the world’s desktop PC chips — also should translate to lower prices. Maybe Apple will pass those savings onto consumers, Booher said.

“Being in bed with the big player who’s got the economies of scale ought to be really good for Apple, ” Levitus said. “It’s going to be rough the first few years but once the transition is made, we should get lots of benefits and faster.”

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 216 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

I took the day off today because Christine was feeling a little under the weather (we’ve both been suffering through some kind of flu-type affliction). It was fun to spend a day with Jack and my wife… made me wish I could do it more often.

Since I wasn’t working all day, I decided to shoot a bunch of video of Jack so I could put a movie up of some of the things he does now that he’s six months old.

Here’s what I came up with:

Jack at Six Months

We shot some more footage of him eating later in the day, but the video was already getting too long… maybe I’ll put that footage up later… maybe not.

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 243 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

or …

“Beneath the Sky of Mexico” …

That’s where your humble narrator found himself last Friday night through Monday morning. We spent our Memorial day weekend in Mexico. Not in some crummy border town where the rest of you that can claim to have been to Mexico have been, but rather deep in Central Mexico, up in the mountains, in a picturesque little town that’s barely been touched by the tourism industry.

Christine and I found ourselves surrounded by friends and family this past weekend and it was truly an amazing weekend. We left little Jack at home with his Godparents on Friday morning, and headed south (after a short trip north to Dallas of course).

We flew into Guanajuato, Mexico (by way of the airport in Leon) with Mary (Christine’s mom), Marc and Cyndi (our good friends from Austin), and Larry and Terry (Cyndi’s mom and dad), as well as a host of other friends that were all heading down to Jennifer Hill’s (friends of the Kamps) wedding to Daniel Hernandez. At the airport in Leon, I ordered a taxi for seven, and paid $40 for a van without airconditioning to take us to Guanajuato. Nothing like paying $40 to drive through smoke from fires in the fields and exhaust from a third world country’s lack of emission standards in 90 degree weather…

On the drive into Guanajuato, the air got moderately cleaner, and the scenery got much better. The town is built in the mountains, and is an old Spanish colonial mining town. The main road into town turns into a tunnel that we exited right next to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Luna near the Temple of San Diego in the “touristy” part of town.

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we ran into lots of old friends. After we stored our bags in our rooms, we started enjoying cervezas. I was partial to Indio, a local brew in central Mexico, while Marc stuck to Victoria. The girls stuck to Sol and Pacifica (which is another of my favorites).

We spent four glorious days in Mexico, mainly walking from shop to shop, or restaurant to restaurant, or visiting one of the local sights.

We went to the Museo Mummificado while in Guanajuato, which is a museum of mummies that were created naturally in the dry crpyts that were built into the side of the moutains. It was freaky. I’ve seen enough dead naked people now to never need to see a mummy again.

We visited the church at the top of the mountain near the Vallencia mines. It’s amazing how beautfiful the churches in Guanajuato are, combined with the fact that the populace that actually visits them is so extremely poor. The altars in this particular church, or rather the three walls at the top chancel and to the sides of the transept were covered in gold. The entire wall on all three sides. Covered in gold. Surrounded by extreme poverty.

Also interesting about the churches in Guanajuato: Jesus is depicted in a much more brutal fashion than we’re accustomed to here in the states. He’s very bloody and looks like He’s in more pain than I’ve seen Him in in most popular depictions. We sort of hypothesized that the reason for this is that there is so much more suffering in Mexico, that this is done so the local populace sees how much suffering He went through, whereas in America, if you can’t eat dinner at a good restaurant you think your life is in shambles, so all you need to see is that Jesus ate at McDonald’s too, so your life isn’t that bad. In Mexico He’s all cut up and bloody, and very dehydrated looking, so the fact that you have little money isn’t a bid deal.

We walked through the Mercado Hidalgo, which is in an old train station that was supposedly designed by Eifel (yes, the one and only). It was a working market, not like the ones you might visit in a border town that’s set up for tourists… nope. While this market had touristy crap in it, it also had lots of raw meat and vegetables, and smelled pretty strongly.

We rode the tram up to Papila… a statue of the idian that guarded the town (or something like that… I honestly don’t remember). The view of the city from up there was gorgeous… We got some great photos up there.

We attended the rehersal dinner for the wedding we were there to attend on Friday night at a woderful restaurant in the San Javier part of town. The conversations were lots of fun, and the food was great.

The wedding was held in a small chapel at the Hacienda Guanajuato (a state park now), which as I understand it the groom’s brother got permission from the Governor of Guanajuato to allow the wedding to take place there. The bride was gorgeous. The groom was handsome. All of the guests were in good moods. We witnessed the wedding ceremony, which was special, as the officiant was the groom’s brother. He threw in plenty of personal stories and wished the bride and groom well, while he spoke in spanish and english for the benefits of both families and the many friends in attendance.

The reception was a lot of fun, held in an open garden at the top of a hill, just up from the wedding chapel. The mariachi band was amazing as they played their way into the reception leading the bride and groom. We ate a fine meal and drank good beer and wine while meeting new friends and conversing with friends of old. We danced a little (some people danced a lot) and even got Mary out on the dance floor with us (after a few shots of Tequila I hear … Mr. Hill, the bride’s father, claims to have seen Mary putting back the Tequila, though I can neither confirm nor deny his claim).

Christine and I closed down the wedding, then stayed up late into the night talking with friends and enjoying the cool moutain air (we did that many nights, usually sleeping until 10am or later each morning).

All of our photos from the trip are here, and photos from the wedding specifically are here.

Stay tuned for more… I bought a website and we’ll be putting more Guanajuato information and pictures up there soon, I’m sure.

update: The title of this entry comes from a movie made in 1937. I picked this title because Mark used the title I was wanting to use: Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and since it was a movie title, I figured I’d find another movie title for this entry.

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 300 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

Believe it or not, Christine and I didn’t take a million photos in May… probably because we were travelling too much. So, here’s the roundup from this month:

Holding a Bottle – Jack can sort of hold his bottle now.
Changing Table – Photos of Jack on his changing table after a bath.
Jack’s Faces – Jack was making funny faces at me one night.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 222 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

On Monday of this week, Jack turned six months old.

Jack had a doctor’s appointment on Monday, so we got to see Dr. Treybig again, and Jack had to put up with those mean nasty shots again (only 2 this time though).

Dr. Treybig said Jack is looking good, growing well, and that he’s very strong. He’s hitting is developmental milestones… she also said he’s cute (which we already knew).

Jack was 16 pounds 8 ounces on Monday, was 26 inches long, and had a 44 centimeter head circumference. Jack’s measurements put him in the 50th percentile for his age-group. Jack’s growing steadily but surely…

He took his two shots like a man… that is to say he cried a bit, but was fine after a couple of minutes of comforting by his Mommy.

Jack’s smiling a lot now as a six-month old. He laughs alot, and enjoys himself during the day. He can sit up, and grabs things really well. We think he’s teething, as he’s constantly drooling and putting things in his mouth. He can almost hold his bottle in his mouth to feed himself (that is to say, he can hold it, but doesn’t always hold it at the right angle). He likes to try and feed himself with a spoon, but 90% of the feed he tries to feed himself ends up anywhere but his mouth if Mommy or Daddy aren’t controlling the spoon. Jack also goes to bed predictably at 7:30pm every night, but recently, he’s started going to bed on one end of the bed, and then after we’ve put him down, he crawls/wiggles/squirms to the other end of the bed to play with his crib toy before eventually falling asleep. We end up checking on him when we go to bed, and he’s so cute, sleeping there like a little angel, butt in the air, one hand in his mouth, the other out to his side grasping his little bear.

It was also Christine and my seven year wedding anniversay on Monday. We celebrated by going to bed early after watching a show or two on TV that we’d Tivo’d. We also treated ourselves to some Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches.

Oh, and we put down a deposit on the house we’re going to build. It should be ready by November, and we’re really excited about it… should be exactly what we’re looking for though it’ll take a while longer to get it than I was hoping.

So, to celebrate Jack’s six month birthday, we present this movie:

Where's Jack

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 241 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

I pointed out in my previous post that Josh had to change his first diaper this past weekend…

Read this if you want a quick chuckle. It’s too funny to read about Josh’s first diaper changing experience.

Josh: Christine and I and especially Jack appreciate your hard work bud.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 285 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

Yesterday, Christine and I spent the afternoon with our favorite realtor, driving around southwest Austin, looking for a new house. We’re not sure we want to sell the house we’re, unless we can find something else we’d like to move into. So, we figured we’d look.

We didn’t really find anything we liked, though we don’t mind the idea of building a home… though I really don’t want to wait 6 months+ to get into a new house… but I’m warming up to the idea again.

While we were out house shopping, Jack spent the day with Uncle Josh and Aunt Elise. Josh had to change a dirty diaper, and for that Jack and I will be eternally thankful to Josh. It was Josh’s first experience changing a diaper, and if you hear him tell the story, you’ll laugh over and over… Too funny. Thanks again Josh and Elise.

We’ll keep everyone posted on the progress of the house hunt.

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 227 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

So, Christine and I are shopping for a new house, sort of. We haven’t decided in earnest that we’re selling the old one, but it’s tough to get a lot of work done with all of the daily distractions. I absolutely love working at home, and having access to the kiddo and the wife, but its tough to concentrate when your son is out in the living room, making fun noises and playing… makes me want to quit working and go play with him too much. So, we’re thinking we need a slightly bigger house, or at least on where the office is set apart from the rest of the living spaces. It’s either new house, or out-building for the backyard here. And it needs to happen sooner rather than later (stressful, I know).

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 236 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

I’ve been traveling pretty much all month, thus we haven’t updated the website with new photos. We had two 512MB CF cards full of photos last night when I downloaded them from the camera. Here are some of the better ones:

  • On the couch – Photos of Jack and Wesley on the couch together, from yesterday.
  • Frank turns 60! – Some random photos from our recent trip to Dallas and Frank’s 60th birthday weekend extravaganza.
  • Payton and Peggie – We took some great photos of Peggy and Payton from their last visit.
  • The Arboreteum – We went to the Arboreteum for a picnic one Saturday with Jack. Jack enjoyed the open air and the trees, and especially the big pertified cows.
  • Jack’s First Real Food – Carrots. Blech! Mommy made Jack eat veggies for his first real food. Carrots must be the messiest food on the planet too!
  • Trip to the Park – Christine and I took Jack to the park at the begining of April. It was fun, and we got to meet some of the local kids from the surrounding neighborhoods.

I’ll try to post my ruminations on my recent trip to Denver sometime this weekend or next week. Sneak peak: It was snowing really hard there on Thursday, and I had to drive an hour north to the technology and agricultural mecca of Loveland.

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 223 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

Christine, Jack and I met Debbie and Raymond at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner on Friday night. Everyone’s dinner was good, if the portions were just a tad big… next time, we’re just getting one apetizer and 4 deserts. The cheesecake was fantastic. We didn’t stay long as Debbie and Raymond were both a little under the weather, but it was good to see them nonetheless.

On Saturday, Peggy and Payton came up to babysit Jack for us. Payton and I hung new blinds and valances in the nursery, and we enjoyed visiting, before Christine and I headed out for a fun night together.

We left the house around 6:30, and headed to Z-Tejas for dinner. We didn’t have reservations, and someone forgot to tell us that it was Prom night in Austin. We parked the car, took about 10 steps toward the door of the restaurant, and headed back to the car. There was at least 50 people standing outside waiting for a table.

So we drove down Capitol of Texas Highway, trying to figure out what to do… since it was prom night, that pretty much shot our chances of eating anywhere with a cool view… so we decided to head downtown to see what might be fun.

We eventually had a valet take our car on 4th street, and walked into Malaga, but the air conditioning was tool cold, and was blowing right on us. We really kind of wanted to sit on a patio, and they didn’t have one, or at least, didn’t ask us if we wanted to sit outside. (We noticed that they do have a small patio on our way out that had an open table on it).

So we walked next door to Fadó’s and quickly found a seat on the patio. Patrick Fleming was playing live music, and we were sitting under an open sky. The music on his website gives a good idea of how good he is, like this original: Nowhere, USA. I ordered a Black and Tan (what else do you order at an Irish Pub. We ate a Ahi Tuna Ceviche from the apetizer menu, and then sat back and enjoyed the music. Patrick did a good job covering a lot of popular music and he was fun to watch (we were sitting right behind him).

After Patrick Fleming went off the stage, we stayed to listen to a couple of songs by The Blaggards, an irish punk band from Houston. Go to their website and watch their irish punk version of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” … they’re pretty good and a lot of fun to watch in person.

On Sunday, we got up, and I cooked breakfast: Eggs and sausage, with homemade wheat bread toast. Peggy picked up the bread at Hruska’s on the way up from Houston on Saturday. If you haven’t stopped at Hruska’s in Ellinger on the way up from Houston… you need to next time. It’s on Highway 71, and is a little like stopping at the Czech Stop in West, Texas.

After Peggy and Payton left, Christine and I watched Super Size Me, the story of Morgan Spurlock and his 30 day McDonald’s only diet. Scary stuff. It’s a pretty compelling story, and will definitely make you think twice about ordering that Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, or those 44 oz. drinks at the fast-food joint of your choice. I’m convinced that Jack will never eat at a fast-food restaurant in his life, and I won’t eat at one by choice again. I’ll find the place selling salads and apples at the airport, instead of making that quick stop at McDonald’s or Burger King in the future.

Check back for some cute photos of Jack and Payton and the rest of us.

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 298 user reviews.

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Posted on by Christine

Jack rolled over yesterday!!! He is four and a half months now and getting to be such a big boy! He rolled from back to front and then got upset to find himself on his tummy. He did it for me twice yesterday and once for John today. He is also babbling… lots of vowel sounds with a goo, ga, and ba mixed in. It makes for lively conversation at dinner time.

We started feeding him fruits and vegetables last weekend. We started with carrots. He wasn’t crazy about them at first, but by the third day he was gobbling them up. Next came bananas. He LOVES bananas. He is cute while he eats… he gets so excited. Next up we try peas. I wonder how that will go.

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 160 user reviews.

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Posted on by Christine

Tonight Jack didn’t cry at all when we put him to bed! He has come so far in a week! He had dosed off while I nursed him one last time for the day. Poor little guy was so tired. When I laid him down in his crib he opened his eyes, which is usually about the time he decides he doesn’t want to sleep and starts crying. He watched me as I tucked him in and set his little stuffed lamb on his chest. He laid there sweetly watching me as I prayed that God watch over him while he slept. I kissed my hand and touched his forehead wishing him good night and he closed his eyes and went to sleep! I watched him in disbelief for a minute and then quietly left the room.

It feels good to finally lay our sweet little baby down to sleep… quietly.

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 238 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

Today was a glorious day. Gosh it was gorgeous outside in Austin today.

Around noon, I went to Home Depot to buy some angle brackets and screws so I can hang the valances that Christine had Debbie get made for the baby room. While I was there, I also bought three water hose wranglers (you know, those boxes you store water hoses near the water spigot outside). One of them auto-retracts the hose for you… it’s spiffy.

When I got home, I started working in the yard. I raked most of the leaves out of the flower beds in the front yard, and then mulched them with the Black and Decker mulcher thingy I have. Then I spread new mulch down in one of the beds out front… I only had a few bags of mulch, and I’ll be buying more next weekend, along with some flowers for the beds out front.

I installed the hoses in two of the three hose wranglers I picked up.

I also rescued about 200 foot of water hose from the jungle on the south side of our house (that side is all ivy and ground cover, and the last owners of the house had left that poor water hose out in the jungle to die).

After all of that, I sprayed Sevin Dust bug killer on all of the plants and all around the house. Weirdly, though, I don’t think any of the spray actually came out of the applicator… No idea why, but I’ll take time to investigate the inner workings of the screw-on applicator next weekend.

I was exhausted by 5:30 p.m.

It was fun working outside, and I got the chance to listen to a lot of the new music on my iPod. I’ve decided that I really like The Used. The Postal Service has some catchy tunes, but some of their songs are weird. I like Eminem’s Encore album, and the Rob Zombie album I have … I think it’s called Hellbilly Delxue or something catchy like that.

I went inside and drank a cold glass of water. It tasted sooo good. Jack thought it looked good too, and when he grabbed it and pulled it towards his mouth, so, we let him try to drink it. It was hilarious, and after we got done drinking, he was soaking wet, as was I:

Thirsty Boy movie
Photos Here

After relaxing for a little while, Christine, Jack and I took a walk around the block. We stopped to smell the flowers, and tasted our toes on the way too:

Walk This Way movie
Photos Here

When we got home, Jack played in his exersaucer for a few minutes… it was a lot of fun, but I think it was toy overload..

Excersaucer movie

After playing, I went and got dinner from Freebirds (I’m sure burritos are on the Weight Watchers diet, somewhere). Mmmmmmmmm. Gooooood. Fooooood.

When I got home, it was Jack’s dinner time, then bath time, then bed time. He cried for 18 minutes (yes, my wife is a civil engineer and has the time written down) and was out. I think he was as tired as I am.

Looking forward to another week at work.

Oh, and by the way… I think Daylight Savings Time is a stupid idea (in the spring).

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 277 user reviews.

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Posted on by John

Last night, Christine and I got home from the Lockett wedding around 6:30. We quickly changed clothes, and then started Jack’s evening routine.

Jack ate dinner, then we fed him rice cereal, and then bathed him. Around 7:30, we fed him again, and by 8:00 or so he was in bed. Here’s the good news. He only cried for 10 minutes or so last night, and was out. For good.

At 8:45, Christine and I were in bed ourselves.

He didn’t wake up until 5:00 a.m. this morning… but, Daylight Savings Time was in effect, so it was really 6:00 (we forgot about DST until around 10:00).

I slept pretty good last night. Christine woke up at 5:00 wondering where Jack was, and sort of panicked (for a second) that he hadn’t woken up all night… then she realized he was peacfully sleeping, and she couldn’t believe it.

Christine and Jack got up and ate around 5:30 a.m., and I joined them around 8:00 (realize that we didn’t change our clocks until 10:00).

So, night number two went well. Jack was exhausted yesterday most of the day though, so I think this is just the beginning of building the schedule… hopefully this sleep training pays off for us in the long run.

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 278 user reviews.

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