Christmas 2007

Christmas CardWe had a terrific Christmas around here. I hope everyone out there In The World did too.

Here is our Christmas Card for this Christmas!

Everyone who’s address I had, has probably gotten one by now. If not, I either didn’t have your address, or you didn’t send ME one, so you didn’t get one.

If you fall into that category, please accept this as our make up. Click on the card to the left to see the bigger version.

The newsletter reads as follows:

His side of the story…
This was quite a year for me. After a quite difficult ’06, 2007 promised to be much improved, and it did not disappoint… Beginning of course with the Boise State Broncos beating the Oklahoma Sooners in the greatest game ever played™ in the Fiesta Bowl January 1st. I was there to see it live. Definitely an omen of good things to come.

First and foremost, I suppose the biggest news is that I got engaged. Jessica (see ‘Her side of the story’ on the back) and I met in Sept 06. We seem to be a perfect match and enjoy a majority of the same things (although her predilection for trash reality TV is not one of them). As our relationship progressed, we decided to live together and I moved into her house this September. After a few short months of living in sin, I figured I had better make an honest woman out of her, and popped the question December 1st. Needless to say, it has been a pretty exciting month. We’re both very happy!

The other major change for me this past year has been the long awaited career change. After over 8 soul-sucking years of waiting to be laid off at the sinking ship that is Hewlett Packard, I finally decided that enough was enough and ventured out on my own terms. I left HP and was hired on by a company called Wirestone as a web developer. Wirestone is a marketing solutions company who works with Fortune 500 companies and is probably just about the best place to work on the planet. The differences to HP are night and day. I don’t think I could adequately describe in this space how great it is. For example, Wirestone sent all of their employees to Las Vegas for 3 days and paid for everything. The most I ever got at HP was the random Pot Luck. Needless to say, I’m MUCH happier at work these days.

Speaking of traveling, Jess and I ventured all over the west here. We went to Bend, Oregon to visit the Deschutes Brewery… Spring break was spent on the Oregon Coast. We spent her birthday week in June in Santa Cruz/Bay Area, California which was amazing. We had a conference in Vegas (my 2nd Vegas trip in 2 weeks counting the work trip). We also followed the Broncos to Seattle, Washington and Logan, Utah for football games. I’m excited to see where ’08 will take us!

Of course, if you aren’t already aware, and if you’re so inclined, you can keep track of what I’m up to (and read back to see what you might have missed) on my blog. http://jasonhaberman.com

2008 promises to be another terrific year. Wedding plans are progressing rapidly and are nearing solidification. Keep your eyes peeled for more information coming down the pike soon.

Jess and I wish you and yours a very merry holiday season and an outstanding new year!

-Jason

Her side of the story…
Well 2007 turned out to be a pretty big year.

Beginning last year in September when I went on a mini golf outing with some guy named Jason, to really liking this guy, to eventually figuring out this guy is the one, to this guy moving in, to this guy named Jason popping the question and me ecstatically saying yes! So now begins the whirlwind of planning a wedding and just being so dang happy!

Another milestone that I managed to hit was turning 30. It seemed to be easier than I thought partly because some guy showed me that 30 really isn’t that bad. So in June off we headed to California. We rented a beach house in Santa Cruz that overlooked the ocean and spent a week there. It was great! We really enjoyed that area and I’m sure we will be back. As you read from Jason, yes we have been traveling all over. Mostly surrounding some sort of football game but no matter.

Goldy (my “oldish” Lab/Retriever mix) is still clomping around. She seems to be happy and very excited everyday for her walk and of course any food that she can get into. She’s getting a bit slower but I think that she’s becoming more okay with just lounging around the house now that there are two of us around.

I am still working at CAPROCK and they are keeping me pretty busy. I enjoy working for a smaller office and being outside of the corporate world. Of course the downtown location is pretty nice too!

We are both (well at least one of us) are looking forward to planning the big day and all the details! We hope you all find yourselves well and have a wonderful holiday season and a great New Year.

-Jess

31 – 14 at half

Which is the halftime score of the Hawaii Bowl. Boise State is on the losing end.  Ouch.

I’ve seen the Broncos play like this before.  It makes me sick to my stomach.  They played like this against Washington.  They played like this against Nevada.  Uninspired.  Confused. Pathetic.

Tharp is more confused than the first time he started.  Running around and panicy.  I think having Childs sitting at home suspended hurts him a LOT.  I mean, he is either not finding open guys, or is throwing it up for grabs. Horrible. The receivers are dropping balls and worse, fumbling.  Ian obviously isn’t the same since he tweaked his ankle in practice this week. Avery limped off the field just before half.

The defense is missing tackles left and right. Which isn’t good when you are also missing assignments.

Unless they pull their heads out of their collective asses, we are in big trouble.

Honestly, it looks to me like the team went to Hawaii for a vacation… not to win a football game.  They are not focused.  They are not sharp.  Unless things turn around, we’re gonna lose bad.

Bah Humbug.

It’s Alive!

Quick news flash… In a near miracle, the beloved family Xbox 360 has returned from the morgue as happy and as spry as it’s ever been. You may remember that he was given his last rites and left for dead. Well, now it’s “Reunited… and it feels so gooooood.”

I couldn’t be happier. Just in time for the hours of vegging excellence I will have over my holiday break, too. I’m off work starting tomorrow, and don’t return until the 2nd of January. So, yes… this holiday season, all is right with the world.

Oh yeah, I think I’m engaged or something too…

By the way… Snowball fight!

Stroganoff Dip Recipe

Due to popular demand, I’m forced to share my stroganoff dip recipe. As much as I would like to keep it a personal secret, that would just not be the Christian thing to do this holiday season. Candace and Aunt Idette I’m looking your way…

As an aside, apparently I finished second in the recent Crock Off in my office with this dish. I lost to a “hot buttered rum”, which I think is weak since the rum had a better location and also had alcohol involved. I think there should have been separate categories for food and drink, but I guess I’m not the one to make such decisions. Oh well…

Without further ado…

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Fantasy Ass Kicking

No, the title of this post does not have to do with something you would pay extra for with Vietnamese prostitute. Instead, it refers to my weekend.

Straight away, I would suggest that any of my female readers just back away slowly now and not read this… for one simple reason. I’m going to bitch and moan about my fantasy football team and I fully expect that you will not only not understand, but will actually think less of me for my whining about something you find to be so ultimately stupid. Thank you.

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Bad Sweater/Crock Off/Open House

Today was Wirestone’s holiday function.  It consisted of a Bad Sweater party, coupled with a Crock Pot cook off, all in our recently remodeled office which we opened for all to see.

Frankly, it was a hell of a time.  I brought my now-famous Stroganoff Dip which was a gigantic hit with everyone who tried it.

I bought a horrible acrylic sweater at JC Penny’s yesterday.  I figured $15 was enough to spend on a joke.  The office was absolutely filled with the most horrible collection of sweaters ever collected in a single location.  If it wasn’t so amusing, it would have been horrifying.

But, we had a lot of beer, wine, hot buttered rum, mulled wine and an open bar.   It was a nice turnout.  Jess came by as well as my folks.  I was able to show everyone where I work and give them the nickel tour.

I, personally, started drinking at about 1:30pm and the party didn’t start until 3.  I spent the morning help set up and get everything setup.  So, I figured I earned a beer…

Anyway, it was a great party and I can’t be happier to work in such a terrific place.   Keep you fingers crossed that I won the crock-off… watch this space for updates.

Happy Holidays!

Not So Great Christmas Music

Last year, I took the time to write about my favorite Christmas songs and why I liked them. Please go back and enjoy that one again…

This year, since I can’t come up with any more songs that I would want to add to that list (except maybe Everyone’s Waiting For the Man With The Bag by Kay Starr) I thought I would list out the songs that either make me crazy, or I just plain don’t like. I might have a bit harder of time explaining just why I dislike these songs, so just go with me on these.

Besides, everyone except the most ardent Christmas freak knows that there are Christmas songs out there that annoy the hell out of them. I bet some of you have a hard time even narrowing down the list. Mine are as follows:

Continue reading “Not So Great Christmas Music”

Frozen

This morning was cold.  Very cold.  Like 10 degrees (-12C to you limey readers).  Now, I know some of you Midwesterners will call me wiener and push my face in the snow, but what can I tell you?

I rolled out to my car to leave for work and discovered it was frozen solid.  Seriously.  My drivers side door lock would not budge.  Hmm, ok… well, I’ll try the passenger door.  Uh oh.

The key would turn, but there was no movement in the actual lock mechanism.  In either door.  Damn.

I tried a little WD40 in the lock, but the ice just laughed at that feeble attempt.  Shit.

I thought to try to heat up my key with a cigarette lighter but since my key has plastic on it, I thought that would probably be a bad idea.

Finally, I had a thought.  I ran in the house and grabbed Jess’ hair dryer and the extension cord.  I turned that bad boy on the lock and waited… and waited… tried the lock again… and waited.  Still no dice.  So, I went around to the passenger side and tried that.  Eventually, after another 7 or 8 minutes of trying, I was able to open that door.

I crawled across the to the driver’s side, flipped the lock and was able to finally open the door.  Now, all I had to do was to actually fire up the car and let it warm up.

All in all, from the time I walked outside to find the damn thing iced over, to the time I actually left for work?  45 minutes.

Great way to start the day.  3 Coffees later, and I was almost warmed back up.

Death in the Family

Amongst all the joy and frivolity of the past week, I have a bit of somber news.

We’ve had a death in the family.

This death hits me especially hard. We had spent a lot of time together and I’m very sad.

Yes… my Xbox 360 is dead. Sunday morning I received the dreaded “Red Ring of Death“. The very night before he had been so full of life, providing entertainment for friends at our holiday party. It happened very suddenly and I don’t think he suffered. In his short life, he enjoyed driving and sports games as well as shoot-em ups (as Jess calls them). He will be greatly missed by those of us closest to him.

Funeral arrangements have been made (aka. support has been contacted).

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested you send any spare Xbox 360 consoles you might have to me to try to get me through this tough time.

No more Guitar Hero for me… at least for a while…

Engagement Update

By my calculations Jess and I have been engaged for exactly 91 hours as of this writing.

In that time, I believe we, by which I mean mostly ‘she’, have nailed down a date, venue, and a caterer. Bing bang boom.

How is that for efficiency?

Not going to release that information until its a little more solid, but I believe we have made up our minds.

The rest is details.

More to come…