Ethel day 1

Recess Inn Coffee Mug on our first morning there

Our room - the Music Room

The rest of our room

The Bathroom

The Glaston Church

Gale Owen and Elizabeths Barn

The Clouds - Beautiful!

And the sunset - Oy! It was wonderful!

Giant bottle of hairspray?

Lunchy break blogging...

So I've had a pretty good week, although I'm very tired. Sarah's been
sick, and has a horrible cough. I feel really bad for her. She's on
the mend, however.

We're heading out to witchita tonight, to visit Sarah's family for
Fathers day. It'll be nice to have a day off. We've got a special
surprise for Sarahs dad planned.

School is going pretty well. I'm really enjoying the German class, as
I've already had a little back in high school, and it feels like it's
coming back pretty quick. I really enjoy it. Our prof is awesome! Very
funny, and enthusiastic!

I have a few projects computer-related on the horizon. I'm going to
create some (email) stationary for my mother in law so that when she
sends messages, it's a very professional look. When I get it all
finished up, I'll post it on the blog, so if any other Mary Kay
consultants would like to use it, they could.

Also if you've got any other suggestions as to what mail templates I
should create, shoot me an email, and I'll see what I can do. It's a
great way for you to promote your business!
(oh yeah, you have to be using mac os 10.5 - leopard to be able to use
the stationary)

Fishy out!

Sent from my iPhone

Good day at work today...

So I'm having quite a good day at work.
Plus, there may be good news on the house front. We're going to try to
look at a house that has the exact same floor plan as the previous
house, so I'm very excited. We really just need a bigger place to
live. Can't wait to see what our home will be like! Well time for me
to go...

Fishy out!

Sent from my iPhone

A little bit sad...

Sarah and I just found out the house we really wanted just sold. Oh
well- "such is life"

Sent from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday - Superhero

So I must admit - My wife took, edited, and performed the layout,

But this is how I feel today.

Superhero

ISP emails suck!

Here I go....

I really don't understand. Maybe it's because people just don't understand how the internet works... Why on earth would you tie yourself to a single email address that was controlled by someone other than yourself? My example here is that you sign up for internet service, and with that they give you some awful email address like ICantEvenUseThisAddressBecauseItsSoFreakingLong@sbcglobal.net. And what's worse is that people think they MUST use it! Plus most of the time they only give you POP Access to these accounts (Thanks RoadRunner!)

So, what's the problem?  Let's pretend that your email is Bobbyjo@boringtown.rr.com - not only is that hard to remember, but if you get this great job reviewing restaraunts in Hawaii, you'll have to give up that email address when you move. That causes a real problem for many people. 

So how do I fix it? I would suggest an email address that is:

1) Free - Does it cost the company who hosts your email money - yes, but they usually get reimbursed for little ads showing on the same page

2) Uses industry standards - Like IMAP (which gives you complete sync between multiple devices)

3)Gives you lots of storage - 100 MB is tiny in comparison to what others are offering

My suggestion - Go with gmail. They have millions of users, and if you want, you can even use gmail with your own .com! So here's why:

1) Gmail is free - just little text (not picture ads jumping off the page to annoy you), plus it doesn't cost you to get your email on a mail client (Mac, PC, Linux), iPhone, iPod touch, or even a blackberry.

2) Uses IMAP or POP, and doesn't charge for these features (like Hotmail - HOTMAIL IS EVIL)

3) As of this post, they are offering 6813 MB of storage space! That's huge, and it keeps growing!

Well, if you've got any questions about why this came up, just let me know. You can send an email to fishysflounderings@thetroutmans.net

Work + Deutsch klasse + Jack Johnson...

I'm glad to be sitting at a table by myself. My workplace is so
crowded right now...too many people for me to try to deal with. I have
a huge problem with loud noises and large groups of people. Its just
an anxiety thing, but I just have a very hard time with it. I always
have. Plus I'm super tired this week...

So I started my german class. (it's 8am to 10 am M-Th! Oy! ) I
really enjoy it. The prof. is great - very high energy, which is what
I need at that time of the morning. I think is going to be a great
review of the german I had in high school. There are only six of us in
the class, so it's nice and relaxed. Also all the homework is done
online- a huge plus for me, who can't stay off the interwebs.

And just now my lunch time got a little bit better. A song I really
enjoy just came on at McCormick and Schmicks:
Jack Johnson - The Horizon has been Defeated. If you don't know who
Jack Johnson is check him out. It's worth it. Sarah and I are going to
see him in concert in August. I'm super excited about it, too! Well I
think I'm done with my mind wandering for now. I'll link to jack on
iTunes, so all of you can enjoy!

Sent from my iPhone

Bad start to a hopefully good day...

So I had a meeting today with all of my fellow employees who work in my department. We were discussing policies and things. Then we started discussing the team. I hate it when people talk behind other people's back about them! If you've got something to say to them, tell them to their face. It's just as bad as when I was in high school - all the girls fighting, and plotting against each other. Kinda like the movie mean girls. It just really makes me sick. I wanted to walk out. I love working with the (nice) people at my job, but I can't stand the backstabbing. Well, lunch is almost over, so it's back to work I go....