In no particular order …

• see a NASCAR race in person
• meet Dale Earnhardt Jr
• meet Martin Truex Jr
• own my own house
• get married
• have kids
• visit Australia
• go to Houston, TX to meet the people I follow on Twitter who live there
• dip my toes in the ocean
• create some sort of web application that catches on all over the world
• fit into a pair of size 14 jeans again
• visit Nashville, TN
• go to a Lady Antebellum concert
• go to a Chris Daughtry concert
• go to a 3 Doors Down concert

Added Oct. 10, 2010 @ 8:37am

• see a tornado with my own eyes (not on tv or in pictures)
• go on a storm chaser vacation (whether I get to see a tornado or not)

What do these 3 things have in common? Well … the fact that the first is on the second is the reason I didn’t have to chase down the third. To elaborate …

I’ve been waiting for the Droid 2 to be released for 2 months. There were rumors all over the internet about when the release date was. Verizon finally announced on Aug. 10 that there would be a pre-sale on Aug. 11, and the phone would be available for purchase in stores on Aug. 12. I was one of those crazy people who got up just after midnight on Aug. 11 to get the phone during the pre-sale. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t sold out by the time I got a chance to buy it. Verizon ended up shipping my phone out (via FedEx) that same day, and they had free overnight shipping for internet orders, so it was to be delivered yesterday (Aug. 12).

I was pretty sure that they’d try to deliver it while I was at work. I was hopefully they might try when I was home on lunch, but I figured that with my luck, that wouldn’t be the case.

The following is a sequence of tweets that had me hopeful that I’d be home when they stopped (even if I had to take a late lunch).

At this point, I sent her an email with the information she requested. I hadn’t heard back from her by noon, so I headed home for lunch (with my fingers crossed ) Just as I turned on to the street in front of my apartment, I saw the FedEx truck at the stoplight up the street waiting to turn onto 13th Ave. Crap. That means I just missed him. The following is a sequence of tweets after I got into my apartment.

Just after I sent that last tweet, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but a little part of me hoped it might be FedEx. And to my surprise, it was. FedEx Robin called me to see if someone was going to be home for a while. She said she’d call dispatch and see if she could get the FedEx guy to come back to my place. She called back just a couple minutes later to let me know that the FedEx guy was coming back. Rock on.

Within 5 minutes of her calling me to let me know, the FedEx guy showed up. He said that I was lucky … if I had been 15 minutes later, he would have been out of the area. I was so happy that I didn’t have to go to the FedEx office that night to pick up my phone.

And to think … this all started with a random tweet where I said I was hoping they’d try to deliver my phone when I was home. To think that FedEx has employees with jobs where they search Twitter for tweets about the company is pretty awesome. I know that there are others who do it, but those seem to be bots or just tweets to get you to do something for the company. This was a case where they were trying to help me out. They were proactive with a customer and that is something that I wish more companies did.

I can honestly say that if I had to ship something, FedEx would be at the top of my list for shippers because of the experience that I had. I wish more companies would take notice.

So … thank you FedEx. Thank you FedEx Robin. Now I’m off to play with my shiny new Droid 2.

Mom & Dad came to town on Friday and brought me some veggies from their garden … cucumbers, green peppers, onions, beans, and beets. They also brought me some corn on the cob that Mom had gotten from a co-worker (and she even shucked it for me). This was the second batch of veggies I’ve gotten from them, but the first time I’ve gotten any corn. I wanted to share how I cooked the corn (and keep a record for myself). And Mom … I want some more corn.

Cheesy Sauteed Corn [picture]

fresh corn (cut off the cob*)
green peppers
onions
butter or margarine
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese
feta cheese

Melt 1 or 2 Tbsp butter or margarine. Add corn, onions, and peppers (as much as you need for the number of people you’re feeding). Saute for 8-10 minutes (maybe a little longer if you have a lot of corn). Sprinkle on the cheeses and stir ‘em in. Eat and enjoy.

*An easy way to cut the corn off the cob (that I learned by watching the Food Channel): invert a small bowl inside a larger bowl; put the cob on top of the smaller bowl and cut the corn off. The bigger bowl catches the kernels.

As I said in my last post, I’m spending some time working on my own websites for the first time in a long while. I admit, I’m not moving as fast as I’d like, but at least I’m doing something.

I thought the best place to start was to mock up the new layout so I could figure out what I wanted to do before I started any coding. I’ve been doing that at work when starting new projects, and it really helps when it comes time to put fingers to keyboard and code my heart out. We had been using Mockingbird at work for wireframing, but they’re moving to a paid system in a little over a week. It’s not that we weren’t willing to pay for a service, we just weren’t happy with the plans that they came up with. My co-worker and I were both looking around for some alternatives. I ran across MockFlow. It looked like a really nice product. And their pricing wasn’t all that bad. And best of all, they have a desktop app that allows you to work offline if needed. I signed up for the free basic account to test it out. I also signed up for one at home so I could mock up the changes to this site. I really like how easy it is to create a mockup. They’ve got so many objects that you can drag onto your layout, and they’ve got a store where you can download components that other people have created. I’m definitely liking it (and I think we’re gonna start using it at work).

I’m not done with it yet, but here’s a sneak peek at what I’m thinking of doing for the layout for this place …

I’ve got a ways to go, but at least it’s a start. I hope to finish the wireframe up tomorrow so that I can start developing my own custom theme. I want to get it done ‘cuz I’ve got plans for my professional website. I’m gonna play with CodeIgniter on that one.

[Okay ... I know the title of this post is lame, but I'm still stuffed from the zeppoli I had for dessert at Olive Garden tonite. Bite me. ]

It seems like that since I started working full time as a web developer/programmer, I have neglected my own websites. It has been really bad over the past few years. I don’t even blog very much any more. I’ve basically been doing all of my ranting and raving on Twitter and Facebook and haven’t been giving my own websites any attention. I spend 8 hours (or 9 hours this summer) working on other people’s websites and don’t really wanna work on mine when I get home.

I’m trying to change that. I’ve deactivated my Facebook account, and I’m taking a break from Twitter for a while. I know I’ll eventually go back to Twitter, but as for Facebook, I’m not sure. I might reactivate my account and I might delete it completely … I just don’t know yet. Since I’m taking a break from social media, I’ll have more time on my hands, and I plan to use that time on my websites.

Tonite I put together a list of things that I want to do. They are (roughly in order that I want to accomplish them):

• Clean up the files I have on the server with my web host (get rid of stuff I’m no longer using).
• Clean up my database (again, get rid of stuff I’m no longer using).
• Decide what I want to do with the subdomains that I have set up (keep, redirect, or remove).
• Clean up my email accounts and forwarders (again, get rid of stuff I’m no longer using).
• Redesign the layout for this website.
• Start this site over from scratch in WP3 and import the posts and comments I have to this point.
• Possibly redesign the layout for my professional website.
• Start my professional website over from scratch using CodeIgniter.
• Do further development on the weather script I wrote a few years back.
• Possibly write a WP plugin based on my weather script (once I complete it).
• Blog more about the stuff that I’ve been doing at work with CodeIgniter.

That list should keep me busy for a while. LOL Now I just need to get myself to turn off the tv so I don’t have any distractions.

Wish me luck.