August 14, 2010

When it comes to having a social life, it’s either “feast or famine.” Following Chris and Matt’s wedding reception, Glenn and I headed to two other events. The first was a birthday party/housewarming for Josiah. We had some great food (Josiah cooked) and enjoyed the company of Josiah’s friends, especially his mother (she’s cool). Following Josiah’s event, we made our way to John and Paul’s house to celebrate their birthdays. Despite showing up so late, there was still plenty of “party” to enjoy.

August 14, 2010

Saturday evening, Glenn and I attended Chris and Matt’s wedding reception. I wish Ruben could have been there but he was home visiting family.

Chris and Matt are an unforgettable couple. It’s impossible to think of one without thinking of the other. They share their faith, an enthusiasm for helping others and a passion for music. A few months ago, Chris and Matt decided to get married in Iowa. Not only is it Chris’ home state, but also one of the few places they could legally wed. Eventually, they wanted to celebrate their official union with all their friends in Texas. On the 14th of August, Friends’ Church was filled with Chris and Matt’s extended family. It was a very special and heartwarming event.

August 12, 2010

Friend and fellow coworker, Catherine, convinced me (and a few other area geeks) to join her at a local pub as part of an international gathering of people who follow the tech-blog, Gizmodo. Of course I took my camera (Canon 7D) to our local event. I fired off a few shots and posted them on Facebook. The next day, most of the photos I took were showcased on Gizmodo’s site along with picts taken at other meet-and-greets around the world. Oh the Internet, where geeks around the globe unite.

August 8, 2010

Sunday morning, we slept in late, recovering from the previous two nights. The three of us had brunch later that morning at Baby Barnaby’s Café. Before leaving Houston, Esteban showed us Discovery Green, a 12-acre park located in downtown Houston. It’s a nice green-space to explore, but at 106 degrees, the heat was almost unbearable. The three-digit temperatures never kept us from having a great time with Esteban but I think we’ll wait till the fall season hits before we plan on doing anymore “outside” activities. Later that afternoon, Ruben and I headed back to Aggieland.

August 7, 2010

Early Saturday morning the three of us headed to Memorial Park where Esteban and his team, The Divas, were participating in a daylong softball tournament. Unfortunately, the weather that day was ridiculously HOT. Despite the heat, these crazies played the whole day. Ruben and I had fun watching Esteban and his friends play and razz each other. Later that evening, the three of us returned to Esteban’s place and began preparing for his housewarming. It didn’t take long for the party to begin as his friends started to arrive. Later that night Ruben and I accompanied Esteban, (our mutual friend) Bryan and his friend, Brandon to a dance club called South Beach.

August 6, 2010

Friday afternoon, Ruben and I headed to Houston to spend the weekend with Esteban and help him throw together a housewarming party the following evening. Shortly after we arrived we made a run for party supplies, then headed to a local park to watch Esteban play a softball game with his team against the Hellraisers. After the game, we headed back to Esteban’s place where we played a couple of Wii games until it was time to attend a birthday gathering for one of Esteban’s friends. This was no ordinary party…it was a drag-themed celebration. We had a LOT of laughs that night.

July 25-30, 2010

I spent the last week of July with fellow TAMU staff, faculty, and students at SIGGRAPH 2010 in Las Angeles, CA.  SIGGRAPH is the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization.  Thousands of CG artists, researchers, developers and producers gather for this conference.

FYI: SIGGRAPH is short for Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

The highlights of the week included hanging out with former students at DreamWorks Studios, our Viz Lab reception, and winning an inflatable projection screen.

July 18, 2010

Sunday, Ruben and I accompanied Glenn to Mike’s Birthday party. It was a simple, relaxing, celebration spent sharing laughs and good food with good friends.

July 16, 2010

Saturday evening, Ruben and I spent a couple of hours with Vann and Liz playing pool. Well, I should say we “tried” to play pool. Van knew what he was doing, but the rest of us didn’t. Half of the shots we made were intentional, and the other half was pure luck. But who cares, the important thing is that we had fun

July 10, 2010

Early Saturday morning (5:30AM), Ruben, Liz, and I made our way to Houston to meet Elsa. The purpose of our trip was to give Elsa, Ruben and Liz the opportunity to visit some of their family (who had been traveling from Florida to South Texas). Following their family rendezvous, the four of us met Vann at the Houston Zoo. We spent the rest of a VERY HOT summer’s day looking at the animals.