So I made it back from Denver Thursday night - the seminars were good, and I'm glad I was able to go, but being away from home that long pretty much sucks. There really isn't much to report today - work on Friday was a little crazy, since I'd been gone for three days, and Tyler and I spent most of the night playing Forza 2 on the xbox 360. Today has been pretty uneventful too. I did manage to replace a burnt out headlight on my car this morning, and replace the impeller in my fluval aquarium canister filter, which I'd been wanting to do for awhile now.
Speaking of aquariums, I do need to give some serious props to our friend Brock - I got a unexpected package today from Rexburg (addressed to "The cupboard under the stairs" no less), and in it was a moonlight kit for my aquarium. I'd been looking for one unsuccessfully now for about two weeks - it's like he read my mind! So I took a few minutes to set that up, and it's just awesome! Seriously, if you're reading this Brock, you're the best!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Not Much Going On
By Jake - February 23, 2008 0 comments
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Work, work, work . . . blah, blah, blah!
So, lucky me, I'm in Denver for three days attending a seminar on product management (my boss decided that since I was hired without any product management experience - i.e. my sheer brilliance is all that got me hired - then I should probably get some training). Today, Day 1, started with me rolling out of bed at 4:15am to catch a 6:10am flight . . . some of you are probably thinking, "why the -bleep- did you take such an early flight?" Believe me, I was wondering the same thing this morning, but to be honest, it was either 1) leave super early Tuesday, or 2) leave late on Monday and spend and extra day in Denver, and let's face it, I'm too whooped on Richelle to spend any more time away from her than I have too. Speaking of Richelle, bless her heart, she actually got up at 4:30am to see me off! How sweet is that!
My day almost ended as soon as it started. I got to the airport with about 50 minutes to my flight, thinking, "it's 5am? How busy can the airport really be?" Well, apparently, pretty busy! The line for security was the longest I'd ever seen it . . . and at 5am no less! It went passed the those little line-thingys (you know, those straps that make the line wrap back and forth), stretched out towards the nearest baggage carousel, then wrapped back on itself extending back towards the ticket counters. I nearly freaked out when I saw it. Luckily the SLC Airport just instituted lines for "expert travelers", and I was able to get into it and blow through security pretty quickly.
Needless to say, I made it to Denver, made it to my hotel, and made it to the seminar. The seminars are put on by a company called Pragmatic Marketing, and they're famous for this grid that defines the roles of product management. That's it on the right, and we spent about 7 hours today running through the left half of that grid. To be honest, I haven't worked on a single one of those items! Market Analysis, Quantitive Analysis, Product Strategy . . . ?!?! I spend all day, everyday, fighting fires! Occasional I get a moment to update some documentation here, and respond to a sales email there - but that's pretty much it! Yeah, I pretty much felt like a product management failure all day - but then again, I guess that's why I was sent to this training in the first place. At least I'm one day down . . . only 14 hours of meetings to go!
On another note, my good friend Mike (the same one that convinced me to start this blog) is at the hospital, at this very moment, about to become a father for the first time! That's pretty exciting! I tried to talk him into naming his kid after me, but they've decided on Xander, which I suppose is a pretty good name if they're not going to go with "Jake." Best wishes Mike! Hope all goes well!
By Jake - February 19, 2008 0 comments
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A Cut Above the Rest
Saturday turned out to be a pretty busy day . . . which I guess was okay, since we did have a lot to do. We spent the majority of the morning at Discount Tire getting new tires for the Porsche . . . oh wait, I drive a Toyota, but a guy can dream, right? That trip, in and of itself would have been pretty boring had I not run into my Mission President, President Nield, at Discount. It was actually pretty sweet - we spent about a half-hour catching up while we both waited to have our cars taken care of (by-the-way, I noticed that he was still driving the white Toyota Avalon that he drove as Mission President too). He's still working for the church as a Director at the Bishop's Storehouse, and Sister Nield is spending her days as grandma . . . Ole Pres assured me that she still has the ability to embarrass just about anyone and everyone she talks too, which didn't surprise me, since an ability like that typically gets worse (or better? can't decide which word is more fitting) with age.
After catching up with the Pres and trading business cards (he's the first non-family member to get one of my recently made business cards, so that was kind of exciting . . . yeah, I know, that's pretty pathetic, right?), Richelle and I headed to her parents to drop off some stuff for her brother, who we're paying to work on our Jeep (that's it on the left) since it's got a few things it needs fixed up before the Easter Jeep Safari rolls around the end of March. We'd do it ourselves, but we're pretty much too lazy - that and her brother could use the money. Mostly it needs the bushings replaced and a new thermostat put in, though it's really the bushing that are the bigger issue. It'll be nice to have it done though.
Probably the most exciting news is that Richelle went and had her hair cut today . . . she got it cut to shoulder length which, she tells me, is the shortest she's ever had it. I really, REALLY like it, and haven't been able to stop telling her that every 5 minutes or so since she had it done. It really does look awesome, and I think she's pretty happy about the change too. I'll have to throw a picture up as soon as I can get one. Did I mention that I love it!
I decided I needed a hair cut Saturday too. I've been cutting my own hair for about as long as I can remember (that's me on the right, and yes, that haircut was my doing . . . though I must not have been dressing myself back then. A white sweater vest? Are you kidding me?!) and Saturday was no exception. I probably should breakdown, listen to my wife, and actually go somewhere to have it done, but I'm too stubborn to pay someone to do something that I can do myself . . . well, maybe not, since I'm paying my brother-in-law to work on my Jeep. On second thought, I'll blame my aversion to salons on the awful smells that come with them! Regardless, I did cut my hair, and as usual, it turned out just fine - no giant bald spots, or crazy lopsided bangs to report. I didn't even make too big a mess, or drop the clippers on my foot this time. So all in all, another stunning success!
A larger chunk of my Saturday was spent working on our aquariums, which are my pretty much awesome. I've kind of turned into and aquarium nut over the past several months, and I know Richelle would agree with that assessment. I had one as a kid, and even dreamt of becoming a marine biologist one day, which obviously I didn't become since I'm working a cubicle job for a fortune 500 company . . . at least the odds of dying a violent and excruciating death are less in my current profession (or are they? I'll have to think about that one for a bit). Anyhow, last summer my parents packed up my old 10 gallon aquarium and brought it down to us. After sitting around for awhile, Richelle got it ready for use, and before long I was full-on obsessed again. Within a few weeks we bought a 46 gallon bowfront aquarium out of the classified ads, and now we're looking for a third tank. So far I've stuck to freshwater, but I'm toying with the idea of setting up a marine tank, since they are so much cooler than the freshwater stuff - though I will say that a well-kept, planted freshwater tank is still pretty sweet. Saturday I bought some new anacharis plants for my 46 gallon tank, and some additional glowlight tetras for the 10 gallon tank. When I get a chance, I'll have to throw some pictures up, not that they'll be very exciting to most people, but I don't care, because I love my tanks.
Anyhow, I'm out of time . . . that and dinner is ready! Mmmmmmmm.
By Jake - February 17, 2008 0 comments
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Meet the Lloyds
Adventures in Blogging
Well, my friend Mike finally convinced me to start a blog . . . since I never listened to him before, I'm not sure why I did this time (and Mike, if you're reading this, don't expect that to ever happen again).
That's my wife, Richelle, on the right (don't worry, she's all grown up now . . . though I think that pic pegs her personality perfectly). We've been married for a year and a half now, and life is pretty much bliss. We've come a long way for two people who pretty much hated each other for the first 6 months we knew each other.
Anyhow - I think I've exceeded my attention limit by about 5 minutes already. Look for future posts to come.
- Jake
By Jake - February 14, 2008 0 comments
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