Philip and Colleen’s Blog
First One’s Free
Nov 14th
So Colleen and I were at the store a little over one week ago and while walking down the cereal aisle, I did something I haven’t done in over two years – I bought a non-General Mills cereal. I know, not a big deal, right? Well, I still have a bunch of great friends working at General Mills, and I really like the company, so I still try to buy their products.
The offending cereal was Malt-O-Meal’s Blueberry Muffin Tops. It looked decent, and was cheap. I had a bowl when we got home, and they actually tasted just like blueberry muffins. Now that the two pound bag and my willpower are almost gone, I’m realizing I have a problem. After a little online research, I’ve discovered the following stages of chemical dependency on a NY government website:
- Experimental (my first bowl)
- Recreational (had it as dessert for a little after-dinner fun)
- Misuse (skipped dinner for cereal that night)
- Abuse (stayed home to eat cereal instead of going out)
- Dependency (constantly daydream about my next bowl of cereal)
The site also notes that “It is important to remember that the signs of alcohol or other drug Blueberry Muffin Top problems show up on the job in the later stages.”
I don’t think I’m having problems at work yet, but to be safe I don’t think we’ll be buying Blueberry Muffin Top cereal again. If you see Blueberry Muffin Top cereal in the store, don’t make eye contact, just keep on walking and grab something less powerful; possibly something from General Mills.
Malt-O-Meal Blueberry Muffin Tops Cereal
First Non-Adjacent-State Family Visit
Nov 9th
My Dad and Karen came out from New Hampshire to visit us a little over a week ago. It was the first time we’ve had anyone from my family visit (they’re all from non-adjacent states). I took a couple days off of work so we could spend time together. We spent one day doing nothing, another day doing nothing except shooting at the gun range, and another day in Oklahoma City where we visited the bombing memorial and the OKC Museum of Art.
I didn’t get a picture of it, but there was a picture at the gun range that said “Hide your money, Hide your gun, Hide your Bible, Obama won”. Needless to say, it was awkward pulling up in our bright green xB (minus any McCain-Palin bumper stickers), without copious amounts of camouflage on.
Here are some pictures from the range and at the memorial:
Hello World (retake)
Oct 29th
Well…been gone from our own website for nearly a year. Now that Colleen and I have settled down in one place, I’m out of excuses, and need to get back to the blogging. I’m sure nobody’s left to read this post, but if there is, keep watching, I’ll post updates and pictures as we start to enter the holiday season.
Missed the mark
Feb 14th
The creepiness of the mailman reading the young woman’s mail is completely overwhelming. Nothing can save this painting. Let’s take a closer look:
–the 1.5 inches of personal space is slowly disappearing. you can almost see the old guy sliding around the back of the mailbox to engulf the girl
–his right hand has a death grip on his left hand, giving us a little peek into the subconscious struggle he is having- not a good sign
–the wistful and pleading look on the old guy’s face has an unsettling twinkle of hope as he is encouraged by the fact that the girl has not yet run back into the house.
–the girl is either frozen in fear or enjoying the attention from the old guy reading the love note which she makes sure he has an unobstructed view of.
Best…Gift…Ever
Jan 21st
I was browsing around the internet a couple weeks ago and stumbled across a website that had a sale price and free shipping on custom-printed glasses clothes.
$0.99 and 2 weeks later the package arrived from Hong Kong ($4 shipping had been paid by the sender).
There are at least three reasons why this is the best gift ever for Colleen:
- 1. A ridiculous picture of me
- 2. She almost always wears contacts
- 3. I got a great deal
I hope you enjoy the picture! To order your own custom-printed glasses cloth go to www.artscow.com.
For bonus points this entire post and the image were created on my iPhone using the WordPress app.
What is going on here?
Jan 5th
Center Point Energy brochure
When I opened our energy bill this morning I found this little brochure too. What is this about? Why is the Center Point Energy lady offering us a palm sized little girl with balloons? What does the tiny girl have to do with the “variety of account options” offered by Center Point? Any guesses?
Farming Fun
Jan 4th
A couple months ago I found this book at Barnes and Noble about growing house plants from the fruits and vegetables you buy at the store. I decided to try one labeled as ‘easy’ to grow- an avocado. One of the tips from the book is to use bottom heat to speed germination. An official bottom heater for seedlings was way too expensive so I tried using our heating pad. Unfortunately our heating pad has a safety feature that turns it off after 30 minutes. After a few weeks of nothing happening to my avocado pits, Phil suggested I set them on top of the water heater and that seemed to do it. One of the funnest things about this whole thing is how Jack and Luke are so interested in the pits. Every time I check the sprouts they need to be there.
The next plant I want to try growing is a ginger plant. The book says it will be similar looking to a bamboo plant.
Project Management
Dec 24th
I’m supposed to be on vacation this week, but I’ve ended up working every day so far. As a project manager, when things blow up, you have to get involved even if your team isn’t responsible. Several of my projects have found themselves in various states of emergency over the last couple weeks. The good news is that I secretly love emergencies.
Want to see a graphical representation of a typical project? Here’s a picture that’s been passed around my team at work:
Disclaimer: My team always delivers
Christmas Lights for Busy People
Dec 14th
One of my coworkers sent an email to me describing his friend’s Christmas lights:
I’ve been CRAZY busy this year, but for the sake of my granddaughter, I decided to put up holiday lights!!! So I finally got it done last night. While I’m not one to toot my own horn (toot toot) I think they are the best on the block!!!
Click the thumbnail to see the lights in all their glory.
New Blogging Engine (Again)
Dec 7th
As you probably noticed, our site’s changed its look again. Last night I had our hosting company, 1and1, spin up some Linux/MySQL server space for us. Colleen and I decided that we didn’t like the lack of flexibility that iWeb gave us. It also turns out that we’ll be able to save some money on hosting since Apple’s MobileMe individual account only allows a single website, which would leave Colleen’s portfolio without a home.
After a bit of research I decided to give the WordPress engine a try since there’s a ton of different themes and widgets available.
If you want to leave comments on the new blog (and we hope you do!), you’ll have to create an account which will live locally on our database. This means that your account will only work for this blog.
Update: Colleen convinced me to leave our comments open. You don’t need to create an account to let us know what you think.