Posts with tag life

Engaged...

Dec 18th 2006 10:25AM | disney, engaged, florida, kathryn, life, orlando, personal, proposal

This past Saturday night, at California Grill, I asked my girlfriend Kathryn to marry me.

California Grill was the right place to do it for few reasons. One, she just moved from California to Orlando, so there's that. It also looks out directly on the castle at Magic Kingdom and is the best place to watch fireworks anywhere in town. Because of that, it's where we went to watch the fireworks when I first brought her to Orlando two years ago. It seemed like the perfect place to conclude the last couple weeks of traveling and moving.

They brought out the ring on a desert plate with "Will you Marry Me?" written in chocolate. She said yes to a thundering applause from the entire restaurant, perfectly timed with the start of the 9 o'clock firework display.

I can't say enough about how perfect the entire evening was, about the wonderful staff at California Grill who I seriously need to thank via a written letter (gotta get those raises!), Gavin and his parents without whom I would have never been able to pull it off (his Mom was able to call some folks to get me the last second reservation, Gavin ran errands and delivered the ring to the restaurant for me), and our wonderful families for blessing/accepting us both as we start this new chapter.

I haven't gotten the chance to call/e-mail many people yet, so I figured I'd write a blog post and get the word out quickly and efficiently. Please don't take offense if I haven't actually spoken with you yet. Funny enough, someone already edited my wikipedia page with the date. Gotta love the Internet.

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Full circle...

Oct 20th 2006 12:01AM | dc, home, life, moving, orlando, personal

Coming up on three years ago, with where I was at with my life and my career, it made sense for me to leave Orlando. I moved to D.C. with a Honda Civic packed full of whatever I could possibly fit.

I love D.C. It took me a while to find the right people and the right places, but D.C. is an amazing, vibrant town full of passion and energy. Everyone here has something to say and share. You can't help but be exposed to new ideas and cultures. Whenever I'm feeling burned out, all I have to do is take a walk and take in the sights and sounds of the city. It's an inspiring, creative place.

There's something about the grit here that you don't find in southern cities. Yeah, I know, D.C. is technically southern. But really, the best way to describe it is a bunch of yankees pretending to be southern. It's cute. There's southern etiquette (stand on the right side of the escalator), but northern enforcement (we'll push you down and kick you in the stomach if you don't). It's truly a unique vibe, and somehow seems to fit. Charming, in a perverse sort of way.

The majority of the people in this city are some of the most interesting folks you'll ever meet. D.C. has an entire world outside of politics. The music and the arts here are top notch. It's incredibly diverse. It's the highest concentration of advanced degrees in the country, and the conversations you overhear simply meandering around serve as evidence. So many of the stereotypes that I didn't even know I had have been shattered since I've moved here. I've made life long friends that have opened my eyes to new thoughts, views, and cultures. Best of all, I have found a girl that I'm completely in love with. This city has given me quite a lot in a very short period of time, and I've been able to grow tremendously because of it.

But D.C., for all it's grandeur and appeal, isn't home for me. With Emurse doing so well lately, family changes and a bit of my own personal reasoning, I've decided that it's time for me to bid this town adieu.

Three years later, with where I'm at in my life and career, it makes sense for me to leave the district. Next week, I'll be driving home with a 14' UHaul packed full of whatever I can possibly fit.

It's been a blast.



6 Comments

Productive Weekend...

Jul 16th 2006 11:59AM | california, disney, emurse, life, orlando, travel

Emurse Stuff:
  • Better file conversion performance (though, we still have some work to do before we're satisfied)
  • Better stability (ditto)
  • Added new sections -- Course Work, Summary, and Keywords.
  • Added ability to change e-mail address
  • Added ability to specify zip code other than whats on your resume for job postings
  • Usability improvements on creating new resumes
  • Better description of differences between emurse and existing resumes
  • Better handling of existing resumes
  • Viewing a nonhosted resume now tells you what resume is hosted instead of leaving you confused and sad
  • Resume reviews are now in private testing
  • Initial hResume support on some templates
  • Forgot Password (whoops)
  • Tons of bugs and polish
Life:

Sunday's the one day a week Kathryn has off, so we always try to do something for at least part of the day. Being so close to Disneyland, it seemed like the obvious choice ;)

Being a native orlandonian (is that right?), I'm a little picky when it comes to my theme parks. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Disneyland was the traveling roadshow carnie fair that Disney puts on. It really is like a shrunken version of Disney World. You can tell they made their mistakes here, and then went full out at the other resort. I had always heard it, but.. It's just so true.

We're also a huge hospitality town in Orlando. We take pride in it, regardless of the industry you work in. We're all on the same page. Here? Not so much. The cashier lady at the frontier land restaurant (which was tasty) felt obligated to tell me how much she hates Orlando and how she couldn't live there (yes, it came up..). In Orlando, if a Disney employee even hinted at suggesting such a thing, they'd be fired and sent to Tampa. Just, you know.. Saying.. anything you can do we can do better, that's all ;)

Here's some pictures :)

5 Comments

Up Up Down Down...

Jun 10th 2006 9:54AM | boredcc, dc, general, life, okcancel, sleep

If your a true geek, that'll spark the rest.

I'm back in DC, finally. At least for a couple days. I really just need to clear my head out a bit. I think I might go wonder around the monuments some and reset.

I did find this comic this morning, and it reminded me of bored.cc, which also reminded me to let certain folks know that I now have access to the domain again. I went ahead and renewed it for 2 more years. I'm not sure what we'll do with it. I know a lot of people want me to put it all back online, but frankly, theres just cooler shit out there now. Maybe some sort of hybrid new age approach, who knows.

Anyway.. It was great to get some sleep last night.
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