Capsize Designs and the End of Sutures & Shutters

Well you guys probably noticed that I haven't posted in like 4 months. For awhile I just ran out of things to say. Then I got busy with my obsession on web design.

That led me to make a hopeful (or maybe just fake) design company website called Capsize Designs. I'll be maintaining a blog there (Wordpress instead of Blogger this time) but it's going to be web development related, not very personal.

Head on over to www.capsizedesigns.com and check it out.

So it looks like the days of Sutures and Shutters are over. Thanks for reading.

-Mike

Hahahaha

I'm engaged!

Well that's it! I'm on my way! Here's the story:

A couple nights ago (it was the day that we both finished classes so it was already an awesome day), Nancy got off of work downtown at about 8:15 at night. Me and Tuck met her and we decided to take a little walk down Main Street. I was NERVOUS! I had the ring in my pocket and was just hoping that tonight was the night to ask. I thought that I would know for sure if it was the right time.

So we walked to this new little Italian place and then realized that we couldn't go in because we had Tuck (CRAP!) so we kept walking. We went towards this little Christmas village thing with a bunch of pretty trees and little cosey buildings. The village was closed (CRAP CRAP!) but we could walk around and look at the trees anyway. We just kind of hugged each other and looked at the lights while Tuck jumped all over us (way to ruin the moment huh). I told her that I thought it was a perfect night.

After that, we sat down together on a bench in the little courtyard by there, and cuddled and talked some more. There was nobody anywhere around us but Tuck. Finally I knew it. We had talked about getting engaged, so I think she knew it was coming eventually. I said something like, "I've been thinking a lot about the best way to propose to you. I wanted to do something really crazy and mindblowing like ask you on stage at a Josh Groban concert, but I just couldn't think of the perfect thing. Then I decided I'd rather ask you while we're just being ourselves, just talking and cuddling and having fun together, because out of all the awesome times we've had together, those simple times together with you have always been my favorite." She said something like "That sounds great baby." I took a deep breath and said "Well, there is one thing that could make this night a little more perfect." I got on my knee and said "BABY! Will you marry me!?" She started crying and said YES and it definitely did make the night even more perfect.

We're planning on a wedding in the early summer of 2009. Me and my fiancé (YAYYYYYY) will be working hard until then!

Things That I Can't Understand

1. The difference between "in-law" and "step." Everytime I'm about to refer to a person that I know is either an in-law or a step-something I just pick one or the other and hope it's right. Nancy always cracks on me about it because it makes perfect sense to her. To me it's this complicated web of tracing family trees and analyzing relationships. I'd have to get a family flow-chart going every time for me to actually be able to figure out which is right.

2. Light bulbs. First of all, it's insanity that the tiny little thing inside there can light up a whole room. Second of all, I love how you pretty much need a chainsaw to get into most commercial products (like the packaging for scissors, which is kind of cruel), but the only thing separating the world from a light bulb is that tiny little layer of thick paper. They should start shipping pre-shattered ones so I can buy them broken rather than get all the way home and then drop it and scream. At least that way I won't get my hopes up.

3. Why bizarre dreams seem so real when we're in them. Last night I had a dream that Nancy and I stole a wedding cake from the wedding cake store, and my professor found out about it. Then my old neighbor was chasing me down the road so I tried to swim away through this lake, except it was only 6 inches deep so I couldn't get anywhere. I woke up sweating and about to scream and then realized how stupid I am.

4. How this blog is getting so much traffic. I'm getting like 300 views a day. Is that really possible? I definitely don't know 300 people, and I know that nobody that I don't know is going to want to read this nonsense. I'm going to assume that my counter is screwed up, because if that many people are reading, then I'm really going to have to put more effort into it. And I don't putting effort into anything. Except trying to figure out the whole in-law/step thing. I'm studying pretty hard on that one.

5. Why peanut butter and jelly work so well together. CONFESSION: I had my very first, all time, peanut butter and jelly sandwich last week. Since then, I've had at least two every day. They're amazing. I never thought it would work, but it does. Ebony and ivory. Peanut butter and jelly. Perfect harmony.

Time to play catch up...

This is what we call a bunch of things that have nothing to do with each other all stuffed into one post.

A friend of mine told me that my last post made him cry at work and somebody asked him if he was alright and he had to pretend that he had bad sinuses and had just sneezed. I'll have to put up a NOT SAFE FOR WORK warning next time.

For my web development class, we had to write a blog from scratch. It took FOREVER, but I finally got it working so that anyone can register and make new posts and stuff. I'm not going to use it or anything, but you guys can check it out while it's still up and running (probably won't be for very much longer). Check it out.

I'm learning how to make facebook applications so if anyone has any ideas for some let me know. Right now all I have is a little box that says IGNORE ME.

Nancy's cousin told me that he knew somebody who had too much weight on a trailer and they got fined $5000. Whew.

We've been cooking! No more Zaxby's for me! WHASUP!

And now you officially know everything.

"Just Water In Our Bodies"

I haven't talked about my dad in a while. I just woke up from a dream about him.

In the dream, somehow we found out that he only had a couple more days to live, because he got sick. After a bunch of really random things (you know how dreams are), we went out to eat for the last night. No restaurants were open, and he said it was because if they opened and he went there there would be a riot of people trying to get in to say bye to him. We finally found a place, and me and my sister had to sit on the floor for some reason. My parents kept trying to sneakily get me drunk, and I just pretended to drink. I thought that they probably assumed it would be easier for me if I didn't remember the last night, but I couldn't stand the thought of forgetting.

The next day, I went to his work to try and talk to some people he worked with while he was still alive. I remember hoping that when I got there, I'd find out that he hadn't told anybody about it, because that would mean that he was playing a trick on us and he was really ok. I found some guy that I recognized, and stopped him on some stairs. He realized who I was and broke into awkward chatter about pointless things and wouldn't make eye contact. Then my dad walked up behind him.

I said, "Hey dad." He didn't say hey back. He just said "Superheroes don't give themselves their nicknames. Somebody else does that." He paused and looked at me. He starting scrunching his face up to fight back tears, but I could see his eyes getting red. I knew then that it was real. "It's all just water in our bodies," he said.

That's when I woke up. For a second, it was relief; the dream wasn't real. And then it was.

On the upside, I went to Tsunami (the sushi place downtown) for the first time since I went with him the night before he died. I even saw the table we sat at. And I didn't cry. That's good right?

Or maybe crying doesn't matter anyway. Maybe it's all just water in our bodies.

MY WISH LISTS

Since Jen did it first, here are my Christmas lists. I've got two, one for CD's and one for everything else.

Now go and just have a shopping spree. No seriously.

What a perfect name for a lawyer.

Go here and laugh.

I done wrecked it.

Well, yesterday I wrecked the boss's car. Kind of. I'll give you some background to make it nice and exciting.

Doc sends me out sometimes to get rocks or compost or stuff like that for her house. Yesterday I took the 4runner out to get about a ton of mushroom compost (has anyone ever smelled that stuff by the way? I smelled like I took a bath in diarrhea after messing with it). On the way back, I'm just moseying down Wade Hampton Blvd. going like 35 or so, and the trailer starts shaking a little bit, then a little more, and after about a second it was fishtailing like crazy.

I literally started screaming and trying to correct it because the weight of all that compost was dragging the back end of the car with it so I was swinging across the lanes. Then the trailer shot out a little too far to the left, so the car was at a far enough angle that the tires planted and it flipped.

The driver's side was on the ground but the glass didn't break or anything. I sat there for a couple seconds just waiting for whoever was driving behind me to smash into me, but nobody did, so I looked up and there were already a few people gathered around the car screaming at me to see if I was ok. I have no idea how they got there so fast now that I think about it. But I was fine, and I jumped up and out the passenger side door.

Turns out that a tire on the trailer broke its seal and went flat. That's what caused it. In a few minutes there were cop cars and a couple fire trucks and ambulances there, but most of them left when they found out that I was ok and nobody else was involved. I don't know how I managed to turn a car on its side in the middle of Wade Hampton at rush hour and nobody else was near me. Lucked out on that one.

After a while, after everyone had left but me, the cop, and Johnathan the office manager (who got there pretty quickly), the cop basically gave us a lecture about towing way too much weight with a 4runner which can't handle it, and we left.

So that's my "I flipped a car on Wade Hampton" story. Here's a crappy cell phone picture so you know I'm not making it up, like I did with that post about the guy who came in to the office with the knife.

Top 10 Unintentionally Bad Company Websites

Taken from here. Enjoy.

1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is
www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com

5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company…
www.powergenitalia.com

6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
www.molestationnursery.com

7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always
www.ipanywhere.com

8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is
www.cummingfirst.com

9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website:
www.speedofart.com

10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at
www.gotahoe.com

Tuck the Great

I finally got a chance to take a few pictures of our mac daddy dog. He's an Australian Cattle Dog...people around here call him a Blue Heeler. His name's Tucker and we've been calling him Tuck. We almost named him Walter after the book Walter the Farting Dog because he has a little gas problem.

He's been going everywhere with us, and I'm taking him to work everyday. We were worried he'd eat Tuna (or Tuna would eat him) but they're pretty good together...usually either chase each other around or just ignore each other. His breed needs TONS of exercise so I've been taking him for a run every morning and playing fetch with him in the afternoon. He goes crazy for a tennis ball.

Anyways, due to popular demand, here he is:

Did You Know?

I just found out that the USA PATRIOT act stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing the Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism." I'm pretty sure that we have a super secret government branch that's top secret mission is creating disgustingly perfect acronyms. Can I get an amen? Thank you.

P.S. We got a dog. He is the man. I'll post pictures when I get some decent ones.