The life and times of David Bates, Programmer, Graphic Designer, Webmaster, Handyman, Logical Thinker, Husband, Father, and an INTP. Just sit back and take it in one post at a time.
I have been chatting up the #GoogleGSO thread this morning after hearing the JoshInTheBox Google Song on 1075KZL this morning.
Play it here:
It seams like there is a lot of discomfort around how the city of Greensboro is handling the marketing campaign to try and lure Google into our town. First they abandon their 1,400 follower twitter account in order to create a new branded one instead of simply using a hash-tag, and then they pay $10,000 for RLF to build a wordpress site, which is Google’s competitor for blogspot. when there already where good standing grass roots movements like http://www.google4gso.com/, and the twitter hashtag #GoogleGSO on twitter.
I hope we get it, it would mean a lot to our community but if Greensboro as a city is going to make these kind of basic mistakes on a marketing campaign we made need to look for better business leaders to help us next election season.
One thing I will give them credit for is the google crate… that is awesome
This weekend was perfect >60° weather, sunny with a light breeze. It felt so wrong playing outside after having a snow shower less than a week ago.
Jess’ family came down to visit and that is always a lot of fun. They have two bright and wonderful girls that Daniel loves to play with. You can read about her family from her Mom’s blog http://merryheartcrafts.com/ Anyway we had great food and lot’s of outdoor time. We even washed all of our vehicles. I even felt better as I have been fighting a sinus infection for about 2 weeks now. But that changed. Daniel started to get sick on Saturday and Jess on Sunday. It started out as what just felt like a tickley throat but now is a full blown chest cold with fever. I feel like I stepped back about two weeks and am starting this sinus thing all over again. As I drove to Walmart this morning at 5AM to get Daniel a new thermometer it started to rain… What a way to start a Monday…At least we had the weekend.
As the title suggests someone very close to me passed away last week. My grandmother Doris Jones died on Feb. the 23rd. Her health had been declining for several years and she really started to decline in health about 3 months ago. She died from complications from COPD a very harsh disease that bassically renders your lungs useless.
My G’MA as we lovingling called her was someone I greatly admired and loved. She helped to raise me and was there for me during every event of my life. She will be missed greatly.
Her funeral was held over the past three days and was fitting. Her friends and family where beside of her and she was laid to rest beside of her husband Charlie Jones (POP’s) I had created a video tribute to her and will try to post it here over the next couple of days.
I would like to thank all of you who sent cards, flowers, visited, and even tweeted to me to help me through this time.
Ducky has been pronounce dead at 6:00PM his departure from this world was a lot of fun for me. The wife shuttered when she saw the videos, it was great. If you don’t know the story that led me to kill Ducky you need to read this post first. Ducky died from gas and fire that was lit with a toilet paper fuse. I recorded the whole thing for your viewing pleasure and you can watch the videos below… BTW there is an explosion that made my wife shake when she knew I was the one holding the camera
So the title of my post may be a little misleading. I love Christmas and all of the memories you make during it. This Christmas however has been off to a rough start. Monday I decided to work from home for two reasons one was the snow and the second was I was feeling pretty sickly. I was happily typing away on code to attribute to my latest project when I got a call from my frantic wife where she informed me that my mother had slipped on ice on her steps, that I had just scrapped, and she believed broke her leg. I quickly informed my Boss I was not going to be able to be reached for awhile and headed to her aid. It took about 2 hours to get an ambulance to the house because of the snow and the holidays but when they got there she had been in pain for some time and had what looked like a bone pushing on her skin but not broke through. They with my help then loaded her onto a backboard and then the stretcher. The driver asked how much my mom weighed (as my family is hefty) and then called in for backup. I guess she scared him Soon the entire Bethany fire department was there to help. My Mom was in so much pain she didn’t catch any jokes I tried to crack to cheer her up. We got to the hospital and here is what the break looks like:
After that you may have guessed that my days have been filled trying to get her here and there but that is not it. Monday night after we got back from the Hospital my wife and son got a stomach virus… very bad so now I had three to take care of and I made until Tuesday morning when I myself got it. Now when I get sick I react a little differently than most people I know I simply goto sleep and continue to sleep until I get better. I don’t know why I do this and my wife hates it but it all works out. So after being in a dead-like sleep and missing Tuesday altogether I was able to get mom back to the doctor starting at 7:30 on Wednesday.
Now I must say that the previous paragraphs make it seem like I did all the work. I don’t want that to be the case as my wife and my sister has helped equally if not more than I. I also don’t want it to sound like I haven’t had a good Christmas I have. Spending time with my family is always good no matter what the circumstance and my mom is pretty funny when she is drugged
Now as for today I went to Lowes to do a little last minute Christmas shopping. I got my mom a safety rail for her bathroom so she can get around on her peg leg and got my father-in-law a little something too. I got to eat a nice smoked pork shoulder with the family and now I have to go downstairs and play Santa for my little boy. He is fast asleep with vision of trains and cars in his head.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
David Bates
