Bye Bye Shaun, Thanks for the Memories

Well, the Seahawks finally did it, they released Shaun Alexander today. I'm very happy with the move and ultimately it was the right thing to do. Shaun is a really great guy, but also very polarizing. It just seems like in football you need a bit of a 'tude and he was just well, too nice! Anyway, his spot in the Ring of Honor is all but guaranteed and I'll certainly cheer for him if/when he ever comes back to Qwest but this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league and quite frankly he hadn't been doing much. I just wanted to say farewell to #37 and wish him the best of luck, I'm sure he'll end up somewhere.

In other news, nothing yet on the job front. Again, my days are filled with many phone conversations, follow up emails/calls and at least 2-3 emails a day from recruiters and other companies I've applied to. I know I've said it before, but it's going to only be a matter of time and something is going to happen. I have about 3 job opportunities that I'm interested in and I'm sure a formal interview will be in my future soon but the clock is ticking, it's like an episode of 24 minus the heinous terrorist plot.

So we had all three Pugs over last Saturday with Jenny and Police "Chase". We had a lot of fun and on Sunday we made McAwesomes - has anyone made those yet? The dogs had a lot of fun and it was funny to watch: Moose was humping Chloe and Coop would try to hump Moose so it was like a strange Pug threeway. Anyway, I didn't give it a second thought, I thought it was just Pugs being Pugs but then I found this picture of Cooper! I guess I'll have to keep an eye on him when he's on the internet, you have to wonder about your kids these days:)


That's it, I'm out! Oh we will be coming over to B-town this weekend so Laura if you are reading this, let me know what time Shane's game is.

Thursday Night Lights

Hello folks,

Well, here we are for another installment of John's blog full of random thoughts, reflection, and general update of just what the hell's been going on. So when I was at Marchex there was this great coffee shop called Monorail Cafe and they had the best Burnt Creme's! Anyway, the guy that runs the shop was a flaming liberal, you know I think he was gay, rides a bike, and actually reads : ) and doesn't own a gun or at least I think he doesn't. Anyway, that isn't relevant, but what is were a couple of items that I got for myself from their little shop. The first is this countdown desk calendar which basically counts down the days until Yosemite Sam is out of office and usually follows a specific quote he made or someone from his administration. I've provided a couple of pics for your viewing pleasure:


Here's a quote from today's date. If you can't read it, it says "I'm going to spend a lot of time on Social Security. I enjoy it. I enjoy talking on the issue. I guess it's the mother in me."

They also had this great magnet which now enjoys a space on our fridge. I liked it because I do the dishes a lot! Yes, it's true. Holly and I have a nice deal worked out. I clean and she cooks although I do cook occassionally and a bit more now that I'm unemployed.

Speaking on the job front, still nothing yet. I get a lot of calls from folks but most of them are positions I don't really have a great interest in. I'm having lunch with a friend tomorrow and the company he is at is growing rapidly and that may bear some fruit so we'll see. Also, I'm in touch with a recruiter about a job with Cobalt which provides a variety of online services to auto dealers. They have a really great position that I'm interested in so I hope we set up something soon. This is just something that takes time but the proverbial clock is ticking so it will happen for me, it's just a matter of time. Job hunting is like dating, you have to go through a bunch of losers to finally find your perfect mate :)

Well, that's all for today, I have to run b/c The Office is on in 5 mins!

Peace!!

Sunday Night Thoughts

Hello all, well it's Sunday night and so I thought I'd write a few random thoughts and well... blog! So Holly and I had a movie day so we watched like 5 different movies and my favorite was Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox story, I've never laughed so hard in my life so go check it out.

Well, as of last Friday I'm officially unemployed so I can actually say that I'm looking forward to Monday tomorrow (tee hee) although the clock is tickin' so I have to hustle. I have a couple of more interviews set up this week so I'm sticking towards my goal of having at least 2 appts a week.

Wasn't Saturday an incredible day or what! It's days like that when having a convertible was nice and then today mother nature just took a big crap and reminded us where in the world we live. Big news today for the Galvans, the Pug infestation has continued so welcome to the family MOOSE!! We can't wait to meet him, look at the mug on dat Pug!

That's it, peace and goodnight!

J&H&C

There will be blood...

Scary title isn't it? Actually I just wrote that because we watched There will be blood (the movie) and it was pretty good. I would recommend it but it's not for small kids. I don't know why I mentioned that last part it's not like anyone would let their small kids watch something with that title anyway.

Well I thought I would update y'all on the job hunt. Things are moving along and I've been on a couple of interviews but nothing serious yet. I'm getting a couple emails and calls a day. These things just take time to develop as I've reached out to friends and past colleagues so I'm really trying to network vs. just applying for stuff online. I think it's really just going to be a matter of time but I'm very confident I'll find something in the next few weeks. Our HR folks said on average it takes about 30-45 days from the time you first interview until you get the offer and I'd say that sounds about right. 30-45 days is just about all I have too considering I won't have a job come this Friday. Although I have to tell you that looking for a J-O-B is a full time job!

So Holly managed to drive a nail through her finger today (OUCH!) so she had to get a tetanus shot. She'll be okay but her finger was a bit swollen and purple. Naturally she wanted me to baby her which I obliged.

Other than that, not much else exciting going although I think we will be over in B-town not next weekend, but the weekend after so I don't know if there's anything going on but just thought I'd mention it if you wanted to get the red carpet ready :)

That's it, I'm out and until next time. Oh and mom, there was mist again this morning - AAAHHH!!! I hope your ear is feeling better too - that stuff isn't genetic is it?

J&H&C

Sunday Night Laundry and McAwesomes!

Well, it's Sunday night which means a mountain of laundry was done today -woohoo! Boy I sure do miss the days when I used to live at home but I'm sure my mom doesn't :) Anyway, you all may have heard that a few weeks ago the inventor of the Egg McMuffin, Herb Peterson had passed away. Why am I telling you this? Well because I have concocted my own McMuffin, however I call it the McAwesome because it's awesome and I made it myself and won't immediately give you a heart attack like the Mickey D's version. I've listed out the key ingredients below:

(1) bag of wheat english muffins

(1) dozen eggs (you only need about four eggs for two people)

(1) package of velvetta cheese (sandwich kind)

(1) Jimmy dean sausage (low fat) regular is pictured below

(1) Can of "I can't believe it's not butter" (Fabio not included)


Okay, so what you do is take the Jimmy Dean sausage and make yourself 3-4 patties. I would recommend taking a spatula and flattening them out so that they look about the size of a hamburger patty because they shrink quite a bit when you cook them. I would also use some Pam or other non-stick stuff when you are flattening them out because the sausage tends to stick a lot on your spatula and the pan. Once you have the sausages going (over med heat), I would start toasting the english muffins and then put in the eggs in a pan over medium heat. The trick with the eggs is you want them to be as flat as possible so treat them sort of like an omelet. At this point you may have the muffins popping out of the toaster so just but some butter on each side and put them to the side. Hopefully by now your sausage is about done and the eggs are a little fluffy but let's assume everything is done. My suggestion is to put the items on the english muffin in this order: english muffin (bottom)+sausage+velveeta cheese (give it a few mins to melt on the sausage)+eggs and then put the top half of the muffin on top and Voila! I've attached a picture for your viewing pleasure (these were Holly's creations) and she did an awesome job. I call them McAwesomes or ABC's (Another Bad Creation) although the last name is totally a rip-off of an 80s R&B group.

I'm still not sure if that picture makes them look better or worse but seriously try them and decide for yourself, we've now made them 2 weekends in a row so what does that tell you. In other news, the job hunt is going well, I've already got a couple of interviews lined up early next week so we'll see what happens. Unfortunately due to the circumstances and timing, Holly and I were not able to get Seahawks season tickets however Don and Barb did but I figure we can always get tickets if we want to. Oh well, I have the plasma at home but seriously nothing beats a game at Qwest but we'll try to make some home games this year. Lastly, we can't wait for Thursday because the Office is back on TV - woohoo! As I said earlier I don't really watch a lot of prime time stuff but we love the Office. Also, if you haven't yet you should check out http://www.hulu.com/ they have all kinds of shows and movies for free if you want to watch them however you do have to listen to commercials every now and then. Well it's getting late so I have to run and don't forget to try the McAwesomes, I guarantee you won't be disappointed, unless of course you don't like awesome food.

J&H&C

Welcome Back!

What's up party people, sorry for the long delay. Honestly not much had really been going but now I have some stuff that's newsworthy. So I've recently left my job and it was really a mutual decision to part ways but I'm leaving on great terms, the job just didn't work out and wasn't a good fit. I had not really been happy for quite a long time and was sticking around for all the wrong reasons. While the prospect of not having a job and a steady paycheck is scary, I'm making all the right preparations to actively get back in the job hunt. Without even doing anything, just calling on a few folks in my network I've already had a couple of things come my way so I think things will be fine. After all who wouldn't want a ridiculously good looking smart sales guy for their team!

In other news Holly and I are so pumped that the Office is returning next week, woohoo! We were bummed when it went off the air but glad that they're coming back. I really don't watch a lot of primetime TV, but that's definitely the show we watch. We also just wrapped up the celebrity apprentice which we liked too so I don't know if any of you caught that. Of course now we are in the midst of American Idol which I am somewhat embarrased to admit I am a fan of.

In movie news, Holly and I watched "The Mist" and mom you will like that if you haven't seen it already, and for those of you who don't know, it's a Steven King joint so it's scary. It was funny because the next morning after we watched it, we had really low clouds so it was "misty" out. Nonetheless I waited for it to clear up a bit like a complete coward, I mean seriously what did I think was going to happen? I've been trying to follow some of the political stuff going on but it's seems like it's always the same recycled garbage so thank baby Jesus for ESPN and the NFL network!

Anyway, that's it for now and again sorry for the long delay.

J&H&C