Author: Josh

On Sunday I kept thinking to myself: “You know, I should just call in and take Monday off.” I kept going back and forth with myself. Then I finally thought: “Nah, because everyone else will be at work on Monday and I’ll be the only one taking off.”

Guess what?… The office was dead today. Most everyone took the day off. Oh well.

El and I both couldn’t fall asleep last night. We went to Subway for dinner and both had Cokes. Caffeine doesn’t usually have that effect on me. I don’t know what time I finally fell asleep, but I was dragging ass all day.

I made tunafish sandwiches for dinner. El makes them better than me. I try to make them the way my Mom used to make them, but they never turn out the same – you know how it goes.

Anyway – I thought this weekend would be a stay-at-home-do-nothing weekend. But the Republic of Texas Rally & Races is being held in Austin this weekend (gigantic motorcycle rally). We’ve experienced this phenomenon for the past 3 years. Guess we’ll have to see if we’re up to it again. I guess we could just go on Friday night. If you want to see some really great motorcycles, just go down to 6th street anytime this upcoming weekend – and bring a camera!

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!! The Lakers won! Or should I say, Robert Horry won. 0.5 seconds in Game 4 of the Western Finals, the Lakers are down by 2 points and Robert Horry made an amazing 3 pointer to win the game. I’ve always liked watching Horry play basketball, especially when he played for the Rockets during their 2 year championship reign back in 94-95. Wooo, I’m stoked. This is turning out to be a great series.

Anyway, El and I just got back from a relaxing weekend in Horseshoe Bay. We spent Saturday night at Terri’s Uncle Jerry and Aunt Linda’s lake house. I took my nephews, Grant and Adam and Elise out for rides on the Waverunner.

Today, we went out on the Waverunner again, then went to the pool/beach. Being out in the sun really takes it out of you!

And what would Memorial Day weekend be without an ugly car wreck? Sorry, don’t mean to make light of the subject.

As we were heading home this afternoon, we got stuck in standstill traffic for about 45 minutes. There was a terrible accident involving 2 trucks and lifeflight was called in.

Tonight El and I went to Mardi Gras – a seafood restaurant here in Temple. We will never go there again. I would really like to be objective in my review of this establishment, but I can’t. It was horrible. Honestly, the worst food I think I’ve ever had. Jumbalaya with sour cream?

And to make things worse, the Lakers lost… 103-90. The Kings lead the Western Conference series by 2. I’m sure game 4 will be really good.

Tonight I made steamed dumplings, stir fried shrimp w/ snow peas, carrots and pineapple and sushi rice in record time.

The dumplings were the best. I used ground pork, shredded carrots, scallions, fresh ginger & garlic, soy and sesame oil.

I made a good sauce too w/ soy, sesame oil, garlic and scallions.

I have to take back the part about steamed dumplings – I wound up boiling them. I tried steaming them in a wok and they stuck to the steamer grate.

Sorry, no new 4 o’clock pictures — seems as if the plant’s growth has been temporarily stunted because it’s been a little chilly here.

Lakers won game 1 of the Western Finals!

I’m off to Atlanta tomorrow for the Greystone Client conference. Should be fun.

El surprised me last night with tickets to see Episode II. All I can say is – Go Yoda!

I wasn’t in a ‘Star Wars’ mood when El told me “Get ready, we’re going” – but I wound up really enjoying myself. I had planned on seeing it after the hype died down. Episode II isn’t as cheesy as Episode I – but there is a significant cheese factor.

Our weekend went pretty well. On Friday evening, we just took it easy at home. Our friend Victor came over and we just watched the tube and had pizza.

On Saturday, I woke up early and put some stuff on eBay. Victor came and scooped me up and we went over to our friend Tommy’s house to watch boxing on HBO On Demand. Tommy grabbed this time of economic hardship by the throat and landed a job as a financial analyst in the marketing department of Time Warner. One of Tommy’s perks is getting free digital cable and Roadrunner (broadband internet connection).

That night, El and I went to see Donnie Darko. Um… Um… Um… We both liked the movie a lot, but I know I’m going to have to watch it a couple more times. It’s been almost 24 hours since we left the theatre and I’m still trying to figure it out. They had a special screening of Donnie Darko at the Alamo Drafthouse. Said movie won some awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001 and is scheduled to be released on video next month.

So, we came home and went to bed. This afternoon, El kissed me as she was leaving to go to work, 2 minutes later, she comes storming back in screaming that her truck was broken into.

Sometime early this morning, someone broke the right rear passenger window (not the actual window, but that small ‘triangular’ window), reached in, unlocked and opened the door. The culprits broke her CD player. That’s all they did. So, we’re pretty upset about that. El still had to go to work, so I had to wait for the Crime Scene Investigation unit to come and take fingerprints. Then I spent 2 hours cleaning shattered glass out of the inside of the truck.

Now we’re going to have to scrape up whatever we can to get the glass replaced… uh!! It never seems to end. We’re going to have to wait a while before we can replace her CD player too. I guess El can practice on her singing while driving in the meantime!

El was pretty upset about having to move because of my new job, but I think she’s becoming more okay with the notion of leaving this place! Speaking of apartment dwelling, be sure to check out www.aptratings.com if you live in an apartment. There, you can rate the apartments in which you’ve lived, and read others’ comments from various apartments nationwide. Here’s one of my reviews of our current complex.

Having said all that, I think I’m going to go catch some basketball on the old tele and just take it easy. I have to get up and haul on out to Temple tomorrow to take my physical for Scott & White.

Happy Mother’s Day!

This is Elise authoring this entry by-the-way. That’s right! This is my first official entry on Janicek.com!

Josh and I traveled to Mom and Dad Janicek’s house this weekend. We had a nice time (as we always do). It really is nice to get out of the city and into the country. I love being able to see the stars. I know it isn’t nice to brag, but I feel so fortunate that I have such wonderful parent-in-laws. (And no, I’m not trying to suck-up. I’m just speaking from my heart.)

We had quite an action-packed weekend. Saturday, Josh and David hauled a bunch of furniture and odds and ends to a consignment shop in New Ulm (about 7 miles away). When they got back it was time to “work the cows”. This entails rounding them up into a pen, one-by-one into a shoot, trapping them in the shoot, squirting anti-worm medicine on their backs and then releasing them out the gate. (David also had to tag a couple of them.) This is pretty much a four or five person job. I’d say the four of us pretty much have our system down so to keep things interesting we traded jobs this time. I usually work the gate, but I personally prefer being in the pen helping to shoo the cows into the shoot and trapping them there. Other than all of the mushy piles to avoid, it’s quite fun.

Today I learned to shoot a shotgun. I first shot a .22 rifle last fall, also at Mom & Dad J.’s, but today I shot a 20 gauge and a 12 gauge. We shot at clay pigeons and I hit 4 or 5. This was not so much out of skill as it was luck because I think my 4 or 5 hits were out of 15 or 20 attempts. It was fun and worth the proud look on my husband’s face…or maybe it was amusement. I think he’s trying to make a cowgirl out of me. I do feel that I’m ready for my big belt buckle, or cowboy hat.

I also have a new hobby to learn. Janice and I started talking about afghan blankets and I told her that I’ve always wanted to learn how to crochet. She pulled out a bunch of books and magazines on crocheting and gave me a couple of them, and she gave me a needle and a ball of yarn so I can practice. I really hope I learn how to do it because it’s one of the items on my “lifetime list of things I want to do”. Sorry Josh, looks like the housewife thing is starting to look more appealing (see May 9th entry). Just kidding. I promise I’ll keep it to an evening task.

Okay, that’s about it. I’m sorry the reading is long, but it is my first entry…eh…who am I kidding? I’m never at a lack for words am I?

– Elise

Not a whole lot to report today. I’m doing a lot of site development research for janicek.com… hmmmmm.

Today, David and I spoke at a Marketing Advisory Counsel meeting – we both agreed that it went quite well. We introduced our design ideas for the new Scott & White website.

A couple of years ago, my Mom gave us a plant called 4 o’clock. I just went outside and this thing has grown exponentially since yesterday. I’ll try to post a picture of it everyday so you can see its progress. It has really pretty flowers that bloom every day (around 4 p.m. – duh!)

Last night El and I went to Bruckbauer’s for pizza, beer and to watch the NBA semifinals… what a combo!

This past weekend we went up to Ft. Worth to visit John & Christine. It was really good to get away for a while. I think we were really avoiding unpacking.

While in Ft. Worth, we went to the stockyards, did some window shopping and ate bbq. Johnny and I looked like a couple hillbillies eating the $9.99 all-you-can-eat beef ribs. Then we went back to their house and played PS2 for most of the night.

Sunday we all got up late and at kolaches. Then we tried to go to the Mayfest, but they wouldn’t let us in because we brought Wesley along (Engler’s dog).

And, I would like to take this space to apologize to anyone who has been offended by what I write on my site – I’ll try to censor myself better next time…

Today I started (more like restarted) teaching myself php and mysql. I’m thinking about dumping janicek.com into a database. Hmmmmm… I have to figure out why my home network isn’t working (again). El’s computer can see my computer, but her computer can’t get online. Man, it never ends.

Tomorrow El and I are going to Ft. Worth to visit John & Christine. I’m sure Johnny and I will be geeking out in front of a computer or the PS2. We used to be cool!

I talked to John a few times on the phone today – he’s helping me figure out all this database-driven website stuff. He told me he had to go so he could clean house. They’re cleaning house for us! I think that’s funny. They should see our place!

Back in high school, John and I would hang out on his mom’s porch. We’d sit there for hours and hours and hours, just talking about life. I really miss those days.

Elise and I just got back from Applebee’s. Now I think I’m sick – seriously.

I’ve been to Applebee’s three times now – Once in Brenham, once in Austin, and now in Temple. The first time I went, I was with Philip and Amanda and I got nachos. Can’t really screw up nachos.

Second time I went, it was El, Cody, Victor and myself. I had fajitas – not really good. Bland and dry.

Today we went to the Applebee’s in Temple. I had a hamburger, thinking: “You can’t really screw up a hamburger.” This hamburger was fubar – completely burnt to a crisp. I didn’t take visual notice – I had to find out by nearly cracking a tooth. I’m not kidding when I say burnt to a crisp. I don’t know how the hell my plate made it out of the kitchen.

I immediately sent it back. I’m not usually like that. I’m usually quiet and non-confrontational. If my food sucks, I’ll eat the crap, pay and never go back. I had to say something this time though. The waiter was cool and apologetic. He said he’d get me a new burger immediately. Half and hour later, the manager came and kneeled beside me. I told him to get our check. He said he’d go back to the kitchen and personally get my burger and he’d comp both of our meals.

I got another burger long after El was done with her chicken fajita wraps. My burger was dry as a bone. We should have just gotten our check and ran. Anyway, we got a free lunch out of it. Kinda funny though… you get to eat at a place for free to determine that you’ll never go there again.

I need to go lay down… I don’t feel so hot.

I have the best wife in the world. I came home from work and just went and laid on the bed. El came and laid over me with her arm across my body. She went on to tell me about a blanket she used to have when she was a little girl. She would suck her thumb and run her finger back and forth across the bridge of her nose with a little frayed and balled up piece of blanket in between.

She said she felt content with that blanket – she had everything she needed at that time. She told me tonight that she felt the same way with me. I don’t think she’ll ever understand how much that means to me. I just looked at her and smiled and told her that I loved her.

Happy May Day. As of today, El is done moving us up from Austin. I can tell she’s exhausted. AND – she’s getting even skinnier! She called yesterday and told me she’s lost even more weight. I’m really proud of her!

So, to celebrate we went to an all-you-can-eat Chinese food buffet. Usually I frown upon buffets, but this food was awesome. And they had EVERYTHING. Too bad I can’t remember the name of the place. They have four huge buffet lines with everything you could imagine. They even had raw oysters, mussels, king crab legs, pizza, crawfish, and your normal Chinese fare. It was awesome. We’re going to have to avoid that place if we want to stay healthy.

Now everyone has an excuse to visit!

I did my first fire marshal inspection today – such a rewarding job – I just wish they’d get me my fireman’s hat!

Not a whole lot else going on – I need to watch some basketball.

Oh yeah… I get to drive (more like race [wink]) a BMW Z3 3.0i Roadster. I’m driving on May 15th at 4pm to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I’m looking forward to testing this baby out, but more importantly, I’m excited that I get to help out such a great foundation. Look for the video later this month!