Hello!

So, it's time for my year-end summary. Let's get right down to it.

January-March

We were still in Portland, of course, at this time. Things were still normal as can be. I don't remember anything big during this time. We were both working and all that. I think we started dabbling about when we might start trying to have a baby, though. After some discussion about moving and such, we decided to start trying and aim for having the baby in the Fall. We didn't want it to coincide with Laura's work, but, oh well.

After looking at my blogs, it looks like in March, we also decided that we would be moving to Oklahoma City for Laura's post-doc as well. That was a pretty big decision, I guess, especially considering we really loved Portland up to this point and that Laura had a post-doc lined up for Portland. I remember the night we decided pretty vividly. We decided to discuss whether or not to stay or choose OKC over dinner at Azteca. After some back and forth discussing, we decided OKC for some reasons such as support after having the baby, easier vacationing, lower cost of living, etc. We would always have the opportunity to move back to Portland after the post-doc and that for the current situation, trying out OKC for a year or two wouldn't be so bad. 

On the drive back, of course Laura couldn't wait telling people so she called Kelly and let her know. She was excited and I think we started to look around places where we might be able to rent, but it was much too soon. 

April-May

During these months I think we were still mentally getting ourselves ready for the move to OKC, I think. Although, I think we started packing little by little each day so that we weren't scrambling at the very last minute. I also had to tell my job that I would be leaving for OKC in August. Well, we would actually be moving mid-August, but I wanted to give myself some time to help out with packing and all that. Plus, we wanted to have a little vacation time before we left as well. 

I think I ended up telling my work in May or so. I wanted to give them plenty of time to find someone, hire them, train them, etc. for my position. We let the landlord know as well. We still had 2-3 months before the reality hit, so I don't think we were panicking at this point. 

June-July

 Around this point, Laura's schedule started to get busy. I know she flew out for Mother's Day and stuff (actually I could be wrong about that). We've been trying to have a baby for a couple of months at this point, getting ovulation strips, apps, and thermometers for Laura and stuff. Anyway, we found out Laura was pregnant in early July, right before she left to go to OKC to look for houses and stuff. I remember when she told me too. She used the pregnancy strip in the morning and she brought it over to me while I was still sleeping. I was like "yaaay" real quiet, but I was pretty asleep or wanted to go back to sleep or something. I just remember it probably wasn't as exciting as it should have been. 

It seems like we were pretty ahead of packing as well, having most of it packed and we were just finishing up the garage. The things we couldn't pack, we just had to wait, like the dishes and such. Other than that, we were just trying to enjoy Portland with the little amount of time we had.

I do remember near the middle/end of July, Laura was freaking out about finding a good place to stay, because we hadn't found anything at this point. They all turned out to be crap. I kept telling Laura that it will work out. She did work a lot at trying to find a good place for us, which she ended up doing. Kelly was also a big help since she was the one driving around and meeting with the realtors in OKC for us. I know she went and looked at several before we decided on the current Edmond house.

Around this time, I had my exit interview with my director since I was leaving work on the 5th of August. I told her about our baby since we thought it was safe the word wouldn't travel to family. They were all excited and sad that we wouldn't have another baby in the office. My work would have been perfect too to bring the baby and also work.

August

Ahh, August. It was a pretty hectic time. I quit my work on the 5th and we had a vacation planned for a few days at Depoe Bay at a place that Laura found. It was nice to relax for a few days right near the beach. We went to Newport and stuff. 

Afterwards, a week or so later I think, Laura's parents came out to vacation for a little bit as well as to help us pack the ABF truck. Our plan was to move on the 17th, I believe. We had the truck parked for a couple of days in front of our house to pack it up. We made good time as it only took a day and a half to pack it all up. ABF called to see if they could pick it up a day earlier. Good thing we were all ready. The first day was hard work, though, but nothing like OKC was going to be. 

So, the ABF truck left earlier than expected and we were on our way with our drive to OKC over the course of 3 days, stopping in Denver to see friends/family, etc. For a more detailed explanation of our trip, please refer to my blog entry about it earlier. No need to relive that hell!

Once we arrived in OKC, we had roughly 4 days or something to unload the truck. Man, the heat was brutal. It was record setting temps for this Summer in OK in history. It was a great time to unload the truck. After unloading a little bit, even at night, it was too much. We ended up unloading the truck in the first half of the day while it was still cool. It went pretty smooth. For the next week or so, basically the last week of August, we unpacked and tried to get settled in.

September

There was a Labor Day party planned for us at Laura's parent's house with family flying out. That was fun, but because of that, I pushed my efforts to find a job until after this. I'll just blame the fact it took so long for me to find a job due to this week. :)

After the weekend of the party, we finished more unpacking. I think we made pretty good time. It probably took about a month or so to be completely finished. I started looking for a job around early September. I probably applied to a place or two every other day. There weren't many.

During this time, we also had to deal with my car, which overheated if driven in the intense heat. Although, stupid me, I finally put a little effort into what could have been causing it and I saw that the radiator cap was completely busted...I'm not sure when it busted, but I'm going to bet it busted sometime during the Colorado stretch on the way to Chris' house. If I would have just replaced the radiator cap then, instead of now, I think the trip would have been slightly less hellish. It sucked having to go so and so speed and stopping every couple of hours - sometimes every hour near the end of the trip. Anyway, after replacing the cap, it didn't overheat anymore. Not sure if that was the real issue, but I'm sure it helped.

October 

So, we started looking for a car to buy. One, to replace my car and, two, to have some to carry the baby seat in. After a few weeks of searching, we found a couple of prospects. We were aiming for Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda CRV, or Subaru Forester. There is a big shortage of these types here in OK...not sure why. There were a TON in Colorado. Anyway, we finally picked our first one out and went to go buy it. Long story short, they said the car was "already sold" after we picked it out, went through some of the paperwork to buy it, just before it was official. Our theory was that it was priced incorrectly (too low) so they made that shit up. Whatever. We didn't like them anyway. Our search continued. We finally found one a little bit later and went to buy that. It was our first big purchase experience ever. It was weird. 

November

Late October I finally got SOME kind of call back from all the places I was applying. The University of Central Oklahoma called for an interview. I went and a week later I got word that I got the job. Not to brag, but when I interviewed, I sort of had a feeling that I would get the job. I was qualified for the job and I had experience doing pretty close to what the job entailed and felt that they liked me. After the interview, I kind of stopped looking for a job. Glad I was right!

Most of the rest of this month was just working and getting ready for the baby. We're close to getting the baby room set up, though there are still lots to get at the baby shower.

December

Well, this is where we are. Things are good and we're sort of starting to plan for the next few months. The big thing is me figuring out when to inform my work about what's going to happen when the baby arrives. I hate situations like this. 

Anywho, Christmas went well. I did get sick for a couple of days right smack during Christmas Eve and Day, which sucked, but oh well.

Well that's about it, really for the summary. I think the summaries are getting more and more boring each year. I should go read my previous summaries. I think they were more reflective or something of myself, not just a straight-forward summary.

I do think that next year will be a very different year and primarily that's going to be because of our baby boy. Things are going to change quiet a bit, but I think it will be for the better. I can't wait to raise our boy with Laura and teach him all the things that make us who we are. I think it's a pretty cool thing to be able to raise a child that sort of mirrors who you are, although you don't want them to be totally like you. We're still deciding on a boy name, but I think we're pretty close and decided now. Yes, I was a little bummed that it was a boy vs. a girl, but I think I'm over it now. We'll have more chances to have a girl, so.

Hoping for another great year and let's hope 12/21/2012 passes by without demolishing the world.

I love you Laura and our boy, and Kip and Callie (even though you've been expensive this year).

Happy New Year.

I figured since I had some time, I would go over the predictions that I gave last year. I just remembered about this. It looks like I wrote these on January 6th, so let's see if any came true for the year of 2011. I'm not sure how to measure these, actually, and I don't really want to do much research and stuff.

1. 3D will not be anywhere near as big as they tout it to be this year, both in the consumer TV market and the movie market. They just can't 3D-ify everything and expect it to be money-makers. I think the 3D sales will steadily go up until about mid-year and then start to decline.
   
   So, after reading an article on Slate, it looks like different studies are showing different outlooks, but the general consensus is that 3D movies and 3D TVs are still on the rise, but there is some uncertainty about sales numbers. One source said sales are down, but Slate says that there wasn't enough information such as sales per screen to determine if it really was down from 2010 or not. It does seem like the movie industry is still learning 3D and it's getting better. I guess it's too soon to tell if it's going to continue to get better or worse. We'll have to see in 2012.
   
   
2. TV/entertainment content via the internet will be huge this year. With all the new-ish competitors starting to jump to this trend, I think it will be a nice win for the non-cable providers.
   
   I'm not quite sure on this either. I certainly think that internet TV content is still on the rise with major players like Netflix and Hulu picking up licenses and content providers for the many types of internet TV gadgets that are out there, as well as other players like Amazon Prime on-demand trying to get a market share. I don't I can say personally that it was "hugely" popular vs. last year.
   
   
3. I think Netflix will, at some point in the year, just add Blu-Ray renting for free alongside their normal DVD option, instead of the $2.99 they charge now. 
   
   Well this was totally wrong. Even more so because they split up DVD and instant and increased the prices.
   
   
4. I don't think the tablet format is going to be a hit. Yes, the iPad and other tablets do look good, but I think in the end, netbooks or super light notebooks will begin to climb back up in sales again. Not sure how to explain it. I guess an analogy could be e-readers vs. books. There's just something about books that e-readers can't mimic. In the same way, I think people will just want to be typing on a keyboard, having DVD-ROM drives, etc. Besides, everyone's going to have a mini tablet via their fancy Android/iPhone phones anyway. :P
   
   I think I was wrong on this too, but then again, it could be too soon to see how the tablet market is going to do. There were A LOT of new tablets that came out this year. We will have to see if the trend keeps up in 2012.
   
   
5. Android will totally dominate the iPhone. :)
   
   In the last 2 years, Android has definitely taken the lead in market share of phones that use the Android OS vs. iOS. Apple seems to have held its levels consistently, but Android has been on the rise, taking market share from other companies. Android is doing great in app sales as well, I think.
   
   
6. I think Groupon is going to tank...relatively speaking. I just don't think it can keep growing like it did the last 2 years.
   
   It looks like they didn't "tank" like I said they would, as they're still making good profits and profits are increasing. However, it's clear from what I just read that the growth of profits are significantly down from first quarter of 2011 and also read that next year, it might even level out at this rate. It makes sense to me, since as the  year went on, I began to notice a lot more "deals" sites popping up, such as Living Social, Ever Save, and many more.
   
   
7. I hate to say this, but I think Facebook.com may overtake Google.com as the #1 visited site on the internet.
   
   Phew, glad I was wrong on this one. Google is still the #1 visited site on the net with Facebook in a close second. Google was 49% on the estimated percentage of global users that visit Google daily. Facebook was 43%.
   
   
8. Although I love Google's innovation of the Chrome OS, working with everything via the cloud is, at least for this year, something that people won't be able to get used to. It's such a radical change. The mainstream couldn't handle that. Plus the inconvenience of needing an internet connection to sync and stuff like that is sort of burdensome. 
   
   I'll say I was right on this one. The Chrome notebook, while it is now selling at a few online retailers, hasn't really caught on. I think it's being overshadowed by the tablet craze.
   
   
9. Car companies will be touting only slightly higher mpg...maybe just hitting 40 mpg...seriously, my turbo civic gets between 35-40 mpg on the highway and it's a '96! We should be at at least 50-60 for affordable (under $20k) , consumer cars by now.
   
   Correct again! I see commercials still making a big deal about low 30s MPG...pathetic.
   
   
10. Yahoo! is just going to be even more horrible...
    
    I couldn't find any definitive answers, but I think they're still struggling to find their place on the internet. They're still the 4th most visited site, but it's a wonder why that is. There just doesn't seem to be a reason to go to Yahoo anymore, at least for me. 

So, overall, I didn't do too well...maybe predictions aren't my thing.

I was going to edit and work more on my autobiography, but I got wrapped up in trying out the new template and customizing it...damn tangents!

Sigh, so I just went to Target to buy the Logitech K750 solar keyboard that I found when I was in Portland...I'm pretty sure that I didn't need it, but like Laura says, I think I have an issue when it comes to keyboards. Hey, you'd want to get some cool/comfortable if it's something you're constantly using right? Much like a bed or car. That's my excuse anyway.

So I've been working on my autobiography a bit the last couple of weeks. Nearly about halfway done I think...it's long, though. I'm surprised at how much I've written. Maybe I'm not a boring guy like I thought?


I suppose it's about time to explain my work, since I haven't really. So far it's going good. Not the most exciting by any means and most days are boring, but the last few days have been busy and time is flying by each day quick, which is nice. Most days I usually TRY to find something to do and I can't. I literally just sit there switching screens back and forth pretending to read what I've read many times already. Oh well. 


Luckily, I'm starting to get the hang of it and asking less questions and asking why things are the way they are. The thing is, in this line of work, there doesn't seem to be a "normal day", at least so far. I process gift donations to the university and enter them into the database and print out thank you letters and what not. There are so many rules on how to enter the different kinds of gifts, exceptions to entering them depending on who wrote them, etc. that it's pretty hard to keep track, especially when you're starting out. I pick it up quick, though. There are some things sometimes that I just don't get or don't get why they do it like that and the usual answer is "I don't know either." or "They've been doing it that way since I've been here." and so forth. 


I eat lunch at noon each day and since I don't come home usually and don't really want to eat at the office, I drive around, get something, and eat in the car. Laura says it's sad and shouldn't do it, but I don't care or mind. It's nice to get out anyway. At Portland it was different because I had my own office and I could eat at the desk. I'm sitting in a pretty high traffic area so, I dunno. I wouldn't like it, is the bottom line. 


Next week we're having a staff luncheon and I mentioned that I would make some kind of dessert for folks. People are hyping it up now, so I gotta do good. I've decided on the Pot de Creme, but I want to give it a twist, so I got some orange flavored chocolate this time to test it out over the weekend. I'll probably do half and half. I have to go buy some bigger cups to serve them in and there are absolutely NO mini tasting spoons in retail stores. They have forks...but no spoons. 


Lately, and I'm not sure why, I've been spending a little too much. It could be that the Christmas season is here and that I've been finding good deals, but that doesn't really explain  it either since I'm not really getting anything for anyone...just buying things to have because they were cheap. It could also be that since I'm working and actually making money again, I want to spend it or something. I need to stop, though. 


Next week I'm only working two days, then off until January 3rd. Woohoo. Couldn't come soon enough. I'd like to relax, but we'll see how that goes with being in Tulsa. 


I'm contemplating going to Colorado from the 28th to the 31st...I'm not sure yet though. It'll probably happen, but I want to drive, so that's 11 hours-ish each way. It's not that bad, I guess. I would leave around 4 or 5 in the morning I'd say to get there around evening. Dunno what I'd do there, though...


We'll see what happen. I need to start thinking about the yearly summary for this year...man it seems like I've been blogging a long time, and I have! I guess this year will be my 10th year of writing. I just realized that. I'm glad that I've kept with it, somewhat, to catalog my life. It's fun once in a while to read back and see what kind of person I was. I was pretty cocky and uneducated, I think, around 2002-3-ish. At least, that's how I sound when I was writing. I know for a fact that my writing style and attitude has changed. 


And I almost forgot. I can't believe Laura and I have been together for 10 years now. We've gone through so much together and I can't thank her enough for putting up with my stupidities. I hope that we will be together for many more years to come. I know I have stuff to work on and I will try hard to fix it! I can't wait to have our little baby and watch it grow. Some days, like when I got that maternity pillow for her for Christmas, I just couldn't wait to get home and give it to her. From like noon, I was like, watching the clock constantly because I just wanted to go home. Anyway, happy 10 years. I love you!

Laura is over in Tulsa this weekend, so I thought I'd work on my autobiography a little more that I started in February-ish of 2010. I got pretty far, but still a lot to go and I can't believe it's almost been a year! It'll probably be done in a few months of on and off writing, I'd imagine.

Making some chex mix right now and once that's done, gonna head to the store to get some cooking oil, olive oil and I think another dish brush. I bought one yesterday, but turns out that I don't like it as much as the one with handles. I do like that it has a soap dispenser built in, but, going to go see what else I can find. I'm so picky, but I wash dishes enough that I think I can be picky.