It's Grrrreeeaaat!!!

After a brief stint at TimeWarner working on the magazine category, I have been given a fantastic opportunity to move to Kellogg's. I begin on January 7th, and I'm pretty darn pumped about it. I'll be working under the title of Business Solutions Analyst on their Category team. Besides being a really great position, I'll be working for a guy I have a lot of respect for. Of course, I can't say I know him very well, but I expect my views of him will only increase.

I'm also excited about the Pop Tarts. Instead of free Martha Stewart Living magazines (aka Porn for Women), I'll hopefully be scoring some Frosted Flakes and Pop Tarts (aka, the Breakfast of Champions). Man, I love me some Pop Tarts!

Homer, The Odyssey

Once you go minivan, you never go back.

I tried, but couldn't do it.

I traded in the Acura and got a Honda Odyssey.

I love it.

A lot.

Screw manliness...functionality rules.

Introducing "Homer"...the newest addition to the family.

2007 PGA Championship

I love golf. I grew up playing golf with my entire family. And until this week, I have never attended a PGA Tour event. This past Christmas, a few friends and I were standing around talking golf. They mentioned that the PGA Championship was coming back to Southern Hills CC in Tulsa this year. I got excited about the idea of going. So much, in fact, that I got home and asked Dad if he wanted to go. We bought our tickets that night.

The time is upon us. The tournament starts tomorrow (Thursday). Dad and I have tickets to the Saturday and Sunday rounds. Hopefully, it will be an exciting event. My friend Todd called me the other day and said that he and I were going to the practice round on Wednesday (today). Sure...twist my arm. We left the house at 5:00 AM and got there to watch a ton of players practice on the course. Tiger flew under the radar, so we didn't see him while we were there. But we got to see some great players and followed Vijay around for quite a while. He has a remarkable golf swing! And he's huge. And Fijian, so he's got a rockin' accent. I watched him hit a 220 yard shot to about 2 feet. Impressive!

Pictures are on Flickr.

Also, I will be guest-blogging on All Sides of Life this week, so check it out!

Sunset in Florida

I'm in South Florida all week for work. The meetings start today, so I had to fly in yesterday. After a good seafood dinner, I pretty much told my co-workers we were going to the beach to watch the sunset. They weren't opposed to the idea. It was beautiful. A few more pictures are on my Flickr site.
















On Wednesday, we drive to Miami for a "market visit" (read: go look at high Hispanic/Cuban Wal-Mart stores). We're staying in South Beach, so I plan on getting a nice sunrise picture. Hope you all have a great week. If you're bored, I'm sure Allison would let you watch Emma & Brooklyn for a few hours!

Slip & Slide Action

Sunday night, the Jason & Jaime hosted a Neighborhood Hangout at their place. Lots of folks and lots of kids came. Chilling, eating, and playing. It was really fun. A slip 'n slide was pulled out and the games began. Shortly after this video, I became the first and only adult to hit the slip 'n slide. In full clothing.

Where have you been?

We realize it's been a while (a WHOLE week) since either Allison or I have posted something. Sorry Kara! Nothing much has been going on, so blog content is scarce. I'll try to recap some minor things happening in the lives of the Nelson's.

• I finally got my license plate attached to my car (after 6 months of owning the car)! I win the dumbass award for yanking off the screw bolt from my car, thinking it was "twistable". It wasn't. I finally took it the body shop and had them weld it back on. But not after Todd and I tried to JD Weld it back on ourselves. That didn't work very well. Now I won't be pulled over by every cop in Johnson and hick town for improper display of tags. Punks. Thankfully, no tickets were issued...only thick-hick-accented warnings from dip-spitting cops.
• All of our TV shows are over for the summer. While sad, it's also kind of freeing. More time for parks, photography, and mowing.
• We're going to Disney World! I really wanted to take Emma to Disney World while she was still young, mainly for selfish reasons: I can't wait to see the pure joy and excitement on her face when we eat dinner with the Disney Princesses! I'm actually giving up my iMac reward (for quitting dipping) and taking Allison & Emma to Disney in September! So fun!
• It's been almost 2 months since my last dip! I'm still using the Nicorette gum, but I'm weening myself from that. Since I'm giving up my iMac reward for Disney World, I will be rewarding myself with a new camera lens. Makes for better pictures at Disney!
• Work rocks. I love my job. It's been a long time since I've been able to say that. Job happiness and satisfaction is SO crucial to my joy levels.

That's it. Not much else is going on. If you're free for some park time and sno cones, give us a shout...we're always up for that!

Surface: Wowzer!!!

Check this out...Microsoft's "Surface".

The Lost Shoe

Mother's Day Weekend

I realize my posting has been pretty infrequent lately. Thankfully, Allison has been posting some great stuff to keep y'all entertained and to keep our online diary up-to-date. Between work and traveling, I really haven't had much time or energy to devote to blogging. Hopefully, that will change soon. Hopefully.

To all women out there: Happy Mother's Day! You're either a potential mother, a "I want to be a mom" mom, or a full throttle mom. Regardless of kid status, Happy Mother's Day. All women deserve to be recognized on this day, just because they're pretty impressive all around, not just in mothering. It should be called "Woman's Day". To recap the last several days will be difficult. Mainly the brevity part will be difficult. But here it goes:

Thursday
Allison went to a prayer meeting and to run some errands. I got a double-date with my girls. We took the opportunity to make a Mother's Day card for Allison. A big hand-made card with a picture (all the girls) and cut-outs of Emma and Brooklyn's hands on it. And a nice little poem written across the top (that I admittedly did NOT create...). Late bedtime for all, but the card was pretty great!

Friday
Allison and Emma went to Grace Hannon's (cousin) 11th birthday party. Only girls invited. Swimming / slumber party at the Embassy Suites in Rogers. I can only imagine. I stayed with Brooklyn at the house. Emma & Allison had a great time. Again, I can only imagine that scene.

Saturday
Did minor stuff around the house: yard work, miscellaneous cleaning, etc. Saturday afternoon, I went to help Brett & Jayme Walker move into their new house. Fun facts about the Walkers: Brett has a recent physical injury that hindered his moving abilities. Jayme is pregnant. They had a big group help move the big furniture on Friday night, and Benton (Brett's brother) and I helped move in all the boxes and miscellaneous stuff on Saturday. It was actually pretty fun, despite the work load-to-labor ratio.

Sunday (Mother's Day)
I got up early with Brooklyn and Emma. When Allison awoke, we gave her her card and hugs. Emma, Belle, and I went to Starbucks to pick up some breakfast (White Chocolate Mocha's & Blueberry muffins). Then to church and back home for lunch & naps. Allison ran some errands during nap time. Emma crashed quick & easy. Brooklyn screamed. For an hour. I gave up and got her out of her crib. We played and watch golf on TV for a while. After Emma's nap, we loaded up and went to Gator Golf to play some Putt-Putt. Strange request from the wife. I also beat her for the first time in our 10 years of dating/marriage. And I beat her badly. I was GREAT! We then headed to Catfish Hole for dinner and back home for bedtime. It was a great day!

Bad Timing & Chicken Minis

I picked a really bad time to quit dipping. Arguably, there is no "bad" time to quit...but then there is. Right now, work is crazy. 15 hour days working on checkout modulars. Crazy stress. It isn't helping my work efficiency when my head keeps saying "Hey! Go get a can and then quit after modulars are finished". This runs through my head about 1-2 times per minute. Not good when you're making decisions that sway a Title's sales by millions of dollars. Thankfully, I'm still holding strong after 2 weeks of not dipping! 3 1/2 months to go until I'm typing my posts on an iMac!

In other news, I love Chick-fil-A's Chicken Minis. Chicken nuggets stuffed into a heavily-buttered Sister Schubert roll. It's pretty much the best food God ever came up with next to Apple Pie.

Current Top 5 List: Music

I've really been enjoying some different albums lately.

• Dashboard Confessional: Dusk and Summer. I'm just now discovering DC. I'm a huge fan.
• Augustana: All the Stars and Boulevards.
  
• Snow Patrol: Eyes Open. I'm pretty sure I love every song on this album. It's been a constant in my car for a while now. Also makes good background music while working.
• Anberlin: Blueprints for the Black Market. This is their first album. I caught up with them on their second album, "Never Take Friendship Personal" and loved it. Their third CD, "Cities", is good, but I haven't learned to love it quite yet. I'm sure I'll get there
• Rocco DeLuca & The Burden: I Trust You to Kill Me. This is an older, but still new, album that I've re-discovered. Their sound is just neat.
  

(Smokeless-Tobacco)-Less

After 14 years of using smokeless tobacco (aka dipping), I have decided to quit. I'm actually a full week into the process. I'm using Nicorette gum to assist in the quitting, so it's not a cold turkey quit. The difficult part of quitting is the oral fixation portion: always having something in my mouth and always moving my mouth. Smokers have the same problem with the hand-to-mouth motion they grow accustomed to during their addiction.

• I'm going through roughly 20 pieces of gum per day. 8-9 pieces of Nicorette. The remainder is a variety of Orbit gum flavors.
• I'm also going through many, many Gobstoppers throughout the day. This would be a good time to still be working at Nestle.
• As a motivator, I told myself I would reward myself after 4 months with a gift. I was thinking of getting a new lens for my camera. Before I told Allison what I my idea for a gift, she blurted out "I'll buy you a Mac!". Her reward beat mine.
• Side Effect 1: Lots of peeing. I've been drinking a lot of water lately. Not sure why, but I am. I literally peed 14 times today. I was getting strange looks from my co-workers. I also think that the fact that I'm not spitting all my fluids out during the day adds to this. Neat thought, eh?
  
• Side Effect 2: My throat is sore. This has to do with all the swallowing. Thankfully, this has subsided a lot after the first few days. Who would have thought you could get a sore throat from actually swallowing?? I guess after 14 years of NOT swallowing much, this is a big change for my body.
• Side Effect 3: Weight Gain. Nicotine is a stimulant, thus increasing your metabolism. Without it, ex-nicotine users blimp up after they quit. This is a mix between shoving anything in your mouth so as to not put a dip or cigarette in there instead and the slower metabolism. That's just not fair. I figure if I can quit dipping, I can suck it up and do some exercise to counteract this effect.
• Scripture memory has helped a ton to ward off urges and temptations. Specifically Romans 12:1-2. My spiritual life is actually one of the biggest reasons for me quitting. That's an entirely other post, so I'll just leave it at that. Maybe as a celebratory post after 4 months. I'll write it on my new iMac!

My Job Sucks

Ok, not really.

Brooklyn Decker (pictured above) modeled for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. She recently did an in-store signing at a couple of Wal-Mart stores in North Carolina. One of my co-workers got to go supervise the signing. I requested an autograph for my friend Todd. My co-worker forgot and had her sign it to me. Sorry, Todd.

A Loss in the Family

We have recently experienced a death in the family.

My Xbox 360 was pronounced dead at 9:20 PM tonight.

I think I'm actually too sad to cry.

Like the Groom on his Wedding Night...

The Razorbacks started strong, but quickly lost their steam.

Static

Birthday Celebrations

Over the past couple of weeks, it's been one birthday party after another. Add to that, it has been their 30th birthdays, so it is pretty much our last hoorah.

Allison's 30th Birthday
I threw Allison a big surprise party for her 30th. My sister hosted the party at her house, and all the kids (18 in total) were at my house with several babysitters. Logistically, it was difficult for the guests to drop off kids, get around the corner and get inside within the 30 minute time frame I allowed them. Anyone with kids knows time frames don't work. Ever.

We walked into the house, and everyone yelled surprise! Allison isn't a fan of the spotlight, but the big crowd slowly dispersed and became many smaller groups, much more agreeable with Allison's spotlight levels. It was a great night, and Amy (my sister) decorated the house wonderfully. We had Whole Hog Café BBQ and a cake from Rick's. It was a great evening.
(pictures courtesy of Brooke Robinson)

Brooke's 30th Birthday
You can read all about it on Brooke's blog. All I will say is yeehaw, and it was a great evening.

My 30th Birthday
First of all, I was out of town for work on my 30th birthday. So I got to spend an enjoyable evening with 9 people I met 2 days prior. Though not the worst way to spend a birthday, it wasn't ideal. Allison, my sister, and my parents had a Cookie Bouquet sent to my hotel room, so it was in my room when I got back from the day's training. It was really neat and warmed my heart.

Since I couldn't celebrate on my birthday, Allison threw me a "Guy's Night" party on Saturday night. She spent the day cooking, getting the house ready, and packing up the girls to spend the night at my sister's house. Tons of work from a loving wife. She even made my favorite cake: yellow cake with chocolate icing, and put it on her new cupcake tree. We played Loopin' Louie, Nintendo Wii, Halo 2, and poker. We finished off the evening by watching Miami Vice. Around 1:30 AM, Allison called to let me know Emma wasn't sleeping well over at Amy's house. So I went and picked her up and brought her home. She zonked out, so the guys continued watching the movie. We wrapped up around 3:00 AM, which is WAY later than I normally stay up. It was a great night, despite the fact that I'm now 30.

The Big 3-0

I have finally caught up to my old woman. Allison turned 30 on February 11th. I make the turn today.

I'm in a hurry, else I'd wax poetic on how life has been, my thoughts on where my life is now, and where I think it's going in the next 30 years.

Instead, I'm going to spend my birthday with some random people in sales training down in Tampa, Florida. I could think of worse ways to spend my birthday...but not too many ways.

Great New Blog!

I just discovered a new blog recently that I feel will help me and the family's life. It's called "All Sides of Life" and deals with Northwest Arkansas specific entertainment, events, and restaurants. The best thing is the kid-oriented focus. For example, the writer recommends a lot of restaurants based on their kid-friendliness, which is great info to have. It seems Allison and I get stuck in a rut of going between McDonald's (play place) and the mall trying to find places to eat that can also entertain a hyperactive 3 year old.

Even if you don't have kids, the blog covers entertainment events in the area. I have already bookmarked it, and recommend reading it for yourself....it could become a great resource.

Transition

I gave Nestle my two weeks notice yesterday. Starting January 8th, I will be an employee of Time-Warner (specifically Time, Inc.). I'll be working on the Wal-Mart team in Rogers as a Customer Development Analyst (aka Category Analyst). It's pretty crazy, but I'm out-of-my-mind excited! It does suck to leave all my Nestle co-workers after becoming friends with them over the past 5 1/2 years...that'll be the hardest thing. That's not true....the hardest thing was actually telling my boss I quit. Shockingly enough, all of my bitterness washed away and was left with a large heart of gratitude for the great years I've had at Nestle.

But it was time for change. And this is a really great move to a great company. On the fun side of things, I did get to purchase a car for the first time in 6 years! Nestle provided a company car, but Time doesn't. So, I bought myself a 2004 Acura TSX. It's sexy...I'll post sexy pictures of it's hotness later. A tentative name for my car right now is T-Rex. If you have suggestions for names, I'm open to them. Josh can't believe I still name my cars. I feel it is a mandatory thing. After all, I spend a minimum of an hour per day in the car commuting. That's more than a lunch break. Cars should have names.

So...that's the big news today.