adagio breezes

Full is not heavy as empty, not nearly my love...

2006-08-31

False Alarm

So one of my co-workers ran out of the building like a mad man yesterday. The word was contractions were 3 minutes apart and it was time to go. But when they got to the hospital, the staff gave them the big NOGO. Looks like it wasn't quite time to have the baby. The way things are looking, the baby will have to delay going into school by a year, which is what Daniel is really worried about. Nevermind the pain his wife is going through.
As you all know I was born in September, but I never really noticed the fact that I was one of the older kids in class. It wasn't until I got to Baylor that I noticed something was up. People like Dan-Ball and Victor were also born in 1977, but they were a year ahead of me. That's not cool. But when I think about it, if I would have entered school a year earlier, I would have had a whole different batch of friends while going through school. How odd would that have been? How would things be different than they are now? It's one of those things that make you go "Hmmm"
Well, if all goes as planned, Danielle should be shown the door tonight on big brother. But the show is ending in a few days, so they are really going to have to start moving people out of there. There should be a double eviction tonight, and I'm still holding out hope that the lone season-sixer will stay in the game. Also, how about that Chicken George. He has done a masterful job of playing the Non-Threat guy all season. Here is the thing, unless he goes up against Dr. Will, I believe he could win the game. Seriously, who would have a real reason to dislike him. We shall see, as BB& winds down.

2006-08-30

Not Even a Week

I've only been doing the Daily Yoga Today program for about a week and I already feel myself loosening up. Every knows my trouble areas are my hamstrings and my calves. But the program is really focusing on those areas. Hopefully, within a few months I'll be able to pull off The Nobel Pose without issues. I'm close when sitting, but I still have a ways to go when trying this pose while
it is right now.
Speaking of the olde body, I have my sickness for the year. Anyone that's known me for any length of time can tell you that I only get sick about once per year. I don't know what it was, but it had to be some grade A stuff. I started feeling a little off on Monday and by Tuesday I had the scratchy throat. That scratch throat is always a sign of bad things to come. So, this morning, I felt like a pile of trash. Of course, me being me, I tried to sweat it out today. After a good workout in the morning, I felt like a train wreck all day. But in the afternoon, I felt a lot better. By the time I got home and did my Yoga, I was feeling pretty good. Not 100%, but pretty good. We'll see how things are tomorrow.
One more thing, Daniel HHH ran out of work because his wife started having contractions 2 minutes apart. Maybe they'll be a new member of the HHH by the morning. Good luck, bro.

2006-08-29

Maybe Later

I'll try not to get too technical, since a lot of my readers will probably have no clue as to what I'm writing about. But the point remains the same, so here we go.
I've been working on this one project at work for about a year. I was in charge of coding and documenting the project from top to bottom. Along the way, I got caught up in a sea of requests for changes and modifications. In fact, even though these are my last few weeks on the project and the team, requests for changes and updates are still rolling in. It's not that I did a crappy job, it's that everyone wants a change here or a change there to benefit their part of the project. Now, in this firestorm of changes, I was not able to code out the reporting piece of the project. The technology we were slated to use was something called OLAP cubes. Now, I had done a lot of reading on the subject, but I had yet to use it in a production or even a development environment. So, that part of the project was assigned to one of my friends by the project manager. Unfortunately, that guy works in another department and is not able to give us support should something go awry. And we had a server move last quarter, and yes, we had issues. Now, the guy did help us out a bit, but the issues remained and he couldn't dedicate too much of his time to helping us out, since he had his own responsibilities.
So, eMails and voicemails started popping up in my inboxes about why everything wasn't working like it used to. So, what happened? I pretty much had to re-write the core pieces of the reporting side of the project from scratch. And yes, I did use OLAP cubes.
What it all boils down to is the fact that I should have taken on that part of the project from the beginning. I'm pretty sure I could have made some time for the reporting side of the project, but I just let it go to someone else. I have the experience setting up OLAP cubes now, but I could have done it a while back, and possibly deployed some cool stuff for the team. Lesson learned, be assertive and get after it. No need to hang out on the sidelines when I know that I can kick some butt.

2006-08-28

At least show up!

So, I was really excited with this Baylor Bear Volleyball thing we got going on. We even made the play offs at 3-3. But here is the thing. After 6 games, you would think that people would at least show up for the 3 post season games today, seeing how we had a good chance to win our division. But nope, it didn't go that way. I know that aa 6:15 scheduled start time is tough for everyone, but come on. I work in Round Rock and I still managed to make it at 6, that was with a stop at Mc Donald's to change in the rest room.
So, as the 3 others that showed up and went to the bar, what did I do? I ran the Townlake trail, that's what I did. Now with the volleyball season in the books, hopefully I can get some longer runs in on Tuesdays with shorter runs on
Mondays. With the "Train for the Cure" stuff on Monday mornings, I shouldn't have to go that hard on Monday afternoons. But hey, fall kickball is right around the corner, so If you are female, live in or near Austin, and want to play co-rec sports with cool Baylor Alums, let me know!

2006-08-27

Good times had by all

Well, reunion 1996 is all wrapped up. I hope to see people more often that every 10 years. It was kinda funny how we all clique'd off almost immediately. I, of course was at the band table with Trish, Alfred, Jason and Juan. Christina was with us, and I was happy to learn that she is in Austin, too. I found it funny that the Trina-Eva-Katherine-Marie group all have kids around the same age and some with similar names to boot.
So, as y'all know I've been doing a yoga program every other day or so. Saturday morning I was doing head stands and a positon called Hala-Asana which is known as the plow pose or the "burning hamstrings" pose. So, Estella asks me to dance with her for a song or 2. Now, keep in mind that I had also driven 3 hours to Houston about 20 minutes after wrapping up my yoga for the day. I felt OK at first, but by 10PM, my hamstrings were angry with me. They still are, in fact. This all builds up to the fact that my dance with Estella was an absolute abomination. So, Estella, I owe you one.
Tomorrow is Baylor Playoff Volleyball at Zilker Park at 6:15PM. All I can say is good luck bro. And, as if I didn't have enough to do,
I have "Train for the Cure" tomorrow at 06:30AM, so I am off to bed. One more thing, folks. As you can see, when I say really busy, I am not going home to watch TV. I am literally everywhere and this is just Monday! And with Football season and Baylor Alumni Kickball season coming up, things are going to get interesting for me.

2006-08-26

So, I bet y'all thought that, with only my sister's spyware infested PC post on, there would be no posts for you to read.

2006-08-25

On the Eve of 10 years

So tomorrow is the olde 10 year High School reunion in Houston. I can't believe I haven't seen some of these folks in 10 years. Others I've seen more recently, but for the most part, ya I haven't seen them since May of 1996. But, through the Magic of the Interweb, I can keep up with people now. Me, I try to make myself easy to find for all my friends. Don't believe me? See for yourself! Right there you have links to Flickr, Myspace, blogger and Slashdot. And my eMail and AIM screen name aren't all that hard to find on any of those pages.
I really need to scan some pics up for y'all so you can see what I looked like in HS and early Baylor. A lot of people who knew me then remember the Rudy with the long hair. People who met me after 1997ish missed out on those good days. And the way things are looking, Long Hair Rudy will only show up with a wig. :o But, the last time a lot of these people saw me, I was around 220lbs or so. Yea, I know, it's hard to imagine me looking like that. But it happened. There are pictures and video so there is no denying that I used to be a heavy young lad. But, as many of you know, I'm in better shape at 28 than I was at 18.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that some my friends from HS even have kids now. Kids? Are you kidding me? I knew these people since they were in Primary school! What are they doing having kids?? But, I want to see baby pics, people! Some of my friends went into the Military and are probably flying jets overseas as we speak. So I hope to see some of the military folks there, too. Some went straight to work and others went to college, like me. I want to see all of y'all there, too!
Who will turn out? Who knows! All I can tell you is I'm going to have a blast with some old friends. One more thing: GO BIG RED!

2006-08-24

Non Stop Coding & Good Tunes

Today was actually pretty fun at work. I was actually coding all day, instead of my usual ad-hoc reports and statistical analysis for people. It felt great just to mash out some code. For people that don't understand programming, to people like me, it's not really work, but creating something out of nothing. I won't go into the gory details, but I actually like days like this. I just cranked up the Hootie and away I went.
We also had a baby shower for Daniel HHH. Little David HHH is due any day now and I'm glad his new son will be a Virgo much like me, Fiona Apple, Scott Baio and other famous Virgos. Yes, I share a birthday with Mr. Charles in Charge himself.
Also, while tooling around in iTunes I found this cool station named Magnatunes. They play ambient music, so its pretty cool to have in the background while working, etc. Turns out they have a web page where you can buy the music they play there. Except they sell the music how you want it(MP3,Ogg,FLAC) instead of protected AAC or WMA. Plus 50% of every sale goes to the artists. Pretty cool! Check them out today!

2006-08-23

You gotta mix it up!

Over the next 30 days, I will write about a lot of things. I don't want these posts to be a dull, "got up, went to the gym, went home, the end" type of thing. I want to give everyone actual insight into what I do and what I'm up to. With football season coming up, everyone is going to ask how are things going or what have I been doing. I'll just point them this way so they can see what's up.
People remember that last year I was about 3-5 seconds from taking off to do my dream job. But, after I hurt my hamstring, it was tough for me to reach my top speed. So, at the very least, I've been running once a week. On average, I run about 3 times per week. But I run on concrete here on my street, which is tough on the knees. I don't feel it now, but I've heard that it can get bad if I don't rest.
So, what to do on those rest days? Yoga of course! I started doing yoga about 2003. One day I just up and went to Academy and bought a yoga mat. I looked around to see the different yoga studios here in Austin and found one I loved: Yoga Vida. Now, the yoga taught there is Bikram Yoga, which is taught in a heated room. When I say heated, think 100 degrees or so. The idea is with a heated room, your muscles can stretch beyond what you are used to. And it works. The first time I went, I felt great. The next day, I felt like I had been hit by a truck! But with time, I gained greater flexibility.
Sadly, the day I pulled my hamstring, I didn't stretch, which cost me. And during the recent Baylor Kickball adventure, I came down with a case of Tennis Leg. I looked around and saw that most of the people that suffer tennis leg are older, so I was not feeling good when I read that. But then I found that younger people can also suffer from tennis leg by having a calf muscle that is too strong for the Achilles tendon. That sounds a little more like me. Have you seen my calves? Nice stuff! So, I've been taking it easy on the sprinting, but I have to stretch really well now.
Which brings me to my latest yoga experience: Yoga Today! You can subscribe to their free daily yoga podcast in iTunes or your favorite podcasting program. Since I was taking a break from running today, I did an entire hour of yoga and I think I'm going to be in pain in the morning. But that's ok, I need to be more flexible if I am going to land that elusive dream job of mine.

2006-08-22

One Month to Go

Yea, I know it's been too long since I've posted anything. Since my last post, a lot of things have happened over here. On the good side of things I went to see Fiona Apple and Hootie & the Blowfish in concert here in Austin. I've been enjoying possibly the best season of Big Brother and I've been working out pretty much everyday, be it running or weightlifting. I also got a new car and went to Chicago! Plus, I accepted an offer from another department in Dell, so after 5 years of Round Rock 7, I'm moving to Round Rock 2!
On the bad side of things, my poor truck had to be retired. I quit the Atkins diet and moved over to the Fat Smash Diet. It's kinda working, but nothing like the success I had with Atkins. And worst of all, Priscilla's mother passed away. So, I've dealing with that and helping her cope.
Why then, did I wait so long to post anything? Honestly, I am so busy these days. What is keeping me busy, you ask? Besides Big Brother and WWE, I'm not watching TV. Mostly, I listen to iTunes or Pandora.com or watch DVDs on my system. If I'm not working out, I'm prepping food for the next day or washing dishes. When I do get a minute to chill, I'll play a little Halo 2 or read some Tom Clancy books.
Now, normally I would link to the book I'm reading or my Halo 2 stats, but I want to get this published ASAP. Why, you ask? I was checking out this website where the writer says give something a shot for 30 days. And guess what, thats how many days till my 29th birthday. Well, it's 31 days, but thats OK. What will I write about? All the stuff I usually want to write about, but I never sit down and do it. Everyday, I think of a topic to write about and everyday, I get home, workout, shower, eat dinner, clean up and goto bed. Sure, there is some Big Bother or WWE in there, along with MySpace trolling. But for the next 30 Days, you will get new content from me. I will post the same things on my blog over on MySpace and Blogger.com I will start my daily updates at my 2 line a day AOL blog. Let see what we get by 09/22/2006.
PS Happy Birthday to Tori Amos. Those who know me best, know how much I love her music.