I was able to enjoy some good weather in DC, got to have dinner with my brother while in NC, and enjoyed company of my colleagues in Chicago.  I want to spend more time in Chicago (in the summer)…it’s a great city. 

Trying new restaurants is often a highlight of my trips if I have the time and inclination.  I went to a casual place in Georgetown with friends that was good.  Don’t ask me the name, I can’t remember!  In Chicago, I tried the Chicago Chop House.  I love a good steak, and their repuation is well known.  The server, David was awesome - he treated us like we were the only guests in the building, spent time describing the food, made recommendations and was attentive throughout our visit.  Probably one of the best servers I’ve ever had wait on me.  The food was well prepared, but I was a little disappointed with my steak.  A Kobe Fillet, (my first Kobe experience) I expected something much tastier than I had.  Don’t get me wrong, it was good, just not OMG. Chalk it up to another experience and a VERY full belly. 

I do feel bad for Mr Q when I’m away, because my psycho cat acts up at night when I’m away.  During the day, he ignores us all and sleeps.  At night though, he’s a pain in the butt.  But, we love him and overall he’s a good little guy. 

I’m home for a while, which is good…lots to do to get ready for summer and have to wrap up a bunch of work stuff. 

Anyway, tonight we visited Mr. Q’s dad.  He’s older than Justin’s dad.  And definitely can’t hear.  And, lets say that his communication skills could use some improvement.  Perfect recipe for misunderstanding, huh? 

 So, Mr. Q’s dad tells us he tried to make an appointment with the ear doctor.  But, he had trouble hearing the woman on the phone so he didn’t make the appointment.  He says that he thinks that the phone cord got loose.  So, Mr. Q checks the phone jack, it’s all good.  Then, a few minutes later he says something about the phone not working…he thinks the battery doesn’t work.  Oh, and it has been a problem for several months.  So, after a few minutes of frustrating, dead end conversation, we determine that the cordless phone had DIED while he was on the phone.  And, as Mr. Q quite rightly in pointed out, technically his dad really couldn’t hear the woman, since the phone was DEAD!  We point out this fact, and he confirms, ‘I KNOW I can’t hear!’.  Which we in response can’t help but to laugh out loud.  It was a priceless comment.  Anyway, we checked the phone, and wouldn’t you know, a ‘Low Battery’ message appears on the phone.  Doh!  Shoot me now.  Please. 

Then, he tells us he’s lost a lot of weight.  We ask how he knows this…he proceeds to give us a blow by blow description of a failed attempted weigh-in he had this week.  Which brings me to ask the question, if you didn’t get on the scale, how do you know you lost a lot of weight?  Because, he responds, when he stands up, his pants fall down - all the way down.  [Insert appropriate 'Pants on the Ground' reference here]  :-).  Again, we didn’t get to this information in a short period of time…it took about seven minutes to get here.  Once again, Shoot me now. Pretty Please. 

I can’t make this stuff up - trust me, it’s all true.   I can’t wait to see him again next week.

I did brave the temperatures to take the dog for a walk today.  The crazy animal actually LOVES this weather; not surprising since she’s a Lab, but unfortunately, I don’t love it.  But, I endure it for her.  

While on our walk, we passed the ‘lake’ (by NH standards it’s a pond) which has a coating of ice on all but about a 40′x60′ section where about fifty ducks were doing their best to look happy about being there.  I’m sure when they made their vacation plans for the winter, they thought McKinney, TX would be a nice garden spot and south enough to be happy.  Ha!  Silly ducks.  Anyway, I watched them swim and splash in the water and some of them even jumped up on the ice and were waddling around on it.  They were doing their best to be content in spite of the weather.  Soon enough though, the ‘lake’ will be thawed completely and they will have run of the water again.  

The good news is the weather forecasters say it will be near 40 tomorrow and nearly 60 mid-week.  Huh?  Did I hear that right?  Nearly 60?  Okay….I’ll take it!  I hope my family and friends across North America are fortunate to get warmer soon too.  This Arctic blast has gripped so much of the country and making lots of people pretty miserable. 

It seems we’ve been blessed with a very deep traveling cold front from our friends from the north, and I don’t mean Oklahoma, but Canada (eh?).  Last night brought some rain, making for a terrible, slippery commute this morning.  These are the days I’m thankful for my ‘work at home’ status.  Fortunately, the roads dried off and were drivable this afternoon.  

The cold is bone-chilling and just wrong.  My house just doesn’t seem to be warm enough.  Which means I can’t seem to get warm either.  I hope it moves along as the weathermen promise as soon as possible.  

So, in the last four months, I’ve been busy working, traveling and getting ready for our family Christmas.  Let me recap the highlights: I had the pleasure of going to Detroit and Chicago for work.  I traveled with my former manager to Detroit, and we were able to meet up with one of my favorite people that is now retired and joined us for dinner.  We had a great time meeting him, and just traveling together. 

I went to Chicago as part of our traveling Seminar and was blessed to have the support of my colleagues on the project and a very talented staff at the IBM Tech Center.  The event was stressful - no bathrooms on day one, fire drill on day two along with other normal event related challenges.  I haven’t been to Chicago in many years, and was lucky to get a room overlooking the lake at The Drake hotel.  The hotel is still a grand old dame and so full of history.  My dad’s aunt lived there when I was small, and I vaguely remember looking all that way down to the street.  In reality, there aren’t that many floors but I was small then.  Even so, it was cool to stay there.  

I also had the opportunity to go home and visit Ma and Rebby in September.  We had perfect weather.  The beach was too cold to go to in a swimsuit, but great to be at nonetheless.  I saw my cousin, Tori too, always a pleasure and fun.  We all ate at the Ice House, went bowling and went to the Lobster Festival in Portsmouth.  It’s always good to go home….

Then, Mr. Q and I spent a whole lot of time getting ready for a pile of people for Christmas.  I think at the peak, we had eleven in the house, sleeping here and there and drinking more coffee in one day than he and I do in two weeks!  We haven’t all been together for Christmas - ever - so it was quite an event.  We had a fun Yankee Swap, so no pressure on gifts, and everyone pitched in on cleanup, prep cooking and especially eating. 

We also had quite a surprise on Christmas Eve when we were Flamingoed!!!  About 30 pink Flamingoes appeared on my front lawn.  In the snow.  They looked very, very cold.  As quickly and quietly as they appeared, they disappeared in the night.  It was a fun thing to do, and we were sure to get pictures of all of us with them.  

The house now seems so quiet and well, dull now that everyone has left.  We’ve taken down and stored away the Christmas decorations, and are slowly getting the laundry from the beds and baths done.  The energy we had in the house when it was full was great, and miss it and all those that made Christmas the best yet.  I hope we get a chance to do this again before long.  

Those are the highlights.  I’ll leave out the lowlights - there is a reason they are called lowlights.  I hope you all have a successful, happy 2010, and look for more updates here than in 2009.  

Over the last ten years or so, it almost became a crime to eat a hamburger.  The food police everywhere decided it wasn’t good for you, so it wasn’t something to admit you ate.  It seems that has all changed….

I’ve seeing more and more burger places pop up - and I don’t mean fast food, but the kind of place you get a good, fresh, juicy burger.  And a shake if you want.  And freshly cut french fries.  In the last couple of weeks, Mr. Q and I have tried Twisted Root Burger Company and Mooyah Burgers.  With the recent availability of a good burger, and armed with Texas Monthly’s 50 Best Burgers in Texas, I’m now on a quest to try all the ‘good’ burgers out there.  Here’s my two cents about the two that we’ve tried recenetly:

Twisted Root - so far, my favorite.   The atmosphere is happening - smart ass bumper stickers all over the walls along with great music.  The burgers are juicy, tasty and their homemade chipotle ketchup and spicy pickles are amazing.  Add to this homemade root beer and sweet potato chips, and you have a winner! 

 Mooyah  - Their burger is good, but thinner than what I’d expect.  The bun was excellent.  Just a hint of sweetness, and hearty enough to stand up to the ’stuff’ that is on a burger.  The hand cut fries were good, but a bit soggy.  I think they are trying to emulate the ‘In ‘n Out Burger’ thing with sacks of potatoes laying around and lots of red tiles and stainless.  I say do your own thing and you’ll be successful.  

Stay tuned as I try to eat my way around the Metroplex’s burger joints!  I’ll report back as I stumble across them and let you know what I’m thinking.  

I’m trying to get this under control; I think I might need a twelve-step program (or is it seven-step?  I’d prefer seven, so I can get back to updating my websites).  At any rate, I’ve been Facebooking, Tweeting and working - hard.  I know I keep saying that I’m going to update my blog more often, and mostly fail.  I will say though, that I’ve found some good material on Twitter, so I hope that will be my motivation. 

Stay tuned, and I hope not to disappoint you again.

I’m not sure how many people were let go in total.  Internet estimates were as many as 16,000 worldwide just for my company.  This is more than the population of the last town I lived in.  This, along with so many other companies, further contributes to the million plus talented, educated, economic sustaining citizens of this nation.

Reading my email today was not a walk down memory lane, but instead a day of pity, sadness and ire for the people that had given 100% for many, many years are no longer employed, and I’m afraid will remain in this state much longer than they deserve. 

I only hope that our new President is able to deliver on his promises of last night’s speech, and we, as a nation, are able to do what’s necessary to pull out of it.  I’m worried though, that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. 

The whole social networking area is a new frontier…college kids have used these site for a while and honestly, most of the pictures I saw were of partying groups of kids doing things that they will hope won’t turn up when their kids are being disciplined for misbehaving when they are teens.  As more and more people join, many of them ‘adults’, these sites will be forced to play by big boy rules, not seat of the pants ‘kid’ rules. 

I’m interested in seeing how the FB thing works out - if anything, there is now lots of tips on protecting your privacy, and manage your account safely.  

When I picked her up, she was still a little dazed - ok, alot dazed.  As the night went on, the poor thing was falling over when she would sit up, stare into space and then finally slept really, really well. 

Her teeth are beautiful - probably because she doesn’t drink coffee and red wine, and it seems her breath is even better!  She’s more stable this morning and couldn’t wait to get her breakfast.