Christmas TIme

Last weekend Alexis and I kicked off the Christmas Season with a trip to pick out or second Christmas Tree. Instead of buying the tree that has been cut for a month or two and sitting in the parking lot of Home Depot or Lowe's, we headed north of Dallas to cut down our own. We loaded Ace up and headed to the Christmas Tree farm. The farm was very nice. Lots of people, hay rides, and of course Christmas Trees.

We parked the car and checked out the gift shop. By gift shop I mean aluminum shed type building with over priced ornaments that look like small children made them, and sub-par cyder. But a nice idea I guess. After a quick look through the gift shop, we piled onto a trailer for a short hay ride out to where the trees were. We grabbed Ace and a bow saw and set out from the hay-ride to find the perfect Christmas Tree. We probably saw about eleventy billion trees that we could cut down. After half an hour of looking, we found the perfect tree. Now if you're thinking that you found the perfect tree when you went searching this year, you're wrong. Alexis and I found it. Not you. They hauled it back for us, bundled it and we headed back to Big D.

The tree is some type of cypress, that means no needles to clean up over the weeks. Plus it is fresh so we think we might be able to keep it for next Christmas. Who knows.

This may be the last entry of the year unless something really cool happens. Normally I would like to finish on a high note, but it seems like this entry is far from that. Maybe next year.

We are Thankful for...

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Five days in a row of football sure is good for you. This Thanksgiving Alexis and I headed down Friendswood way to spend the holiday with her parents. We left on Wednesday and after five hours of driving, we arrived. That night we decided to go out to a bar with her little sister since she just turned 21, and my favorite cover band of all-time was playing, Strippers Lie. We had a good time. Thursday brought two things; good food, and the first of five days in a row of football. Dinner was great. It featured the Turkey Day staple, turkey. We also had broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, jell-o salad, stuffing balls, mashed potatoes, and other stuff that I can't remember.

For some reason Alexis, her mom and sister went shopping on Friday. I don't know why it's called Black Friday, I think Red Friday is more appropriate since many shoppers may plummet further and further into debt all in the name of 'saving money'. I don't get it. They were gone for the better part of the day, having a girl's day. Sonny and I watched football, then I went to my parents house to watch football. That evening the girl's got home around 6:30 after being gone for hours, all was well though. They returned bearing gifts and pizza.

Saturday night Alexis and I spent the evening with my parents. They treated us to a great dinner at Pappa's Seafood House. The weekend was nice and relaxing, a good way to spend the Holidays.

Alexis' New Car

Earlier this week Alexis got a new car. Her very first brand new car. It is a Nissan Murano. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Murano it is Nissan's Crossover SUV. Which means its an SUV on a car chassis basically. It is black with a black leather interior. Its got good pick up and lots of room in the front and in the back. We will take pictures of it and post them. Which may mean we will take pictures and never post them. That seems to be what we do most of the time when we promise pictures. Anyway, new car, she loves it, that makes me happy.

She will be taking it down to San Antonio for the weekend. She is meeting her friend Jayne, I think she will run into her dad there too. That means its just Ace and me this weekend. Our food groups will be condensed into one easy to remember category, pizza. More on this weekend to come.

Football Rant

This Saturday is the last regular season game for Red Raider. They will be hosting Sooner in Lubbock. I am excited about a few of the game details. The game is the prime-time nationally televised game on ABC. Kick-off is at 7:12 (that's 8:12 for any Yankees that may stumble onto this). It may be a blow out, Tech does not like to play defense and Sooner is really good anyway. Sooner is a ten point favorite. Please note that the colors of this blog will shortly change as football season comes to an end.

This weekend also marks the first time that Diana's Alma Mater has faced off against my Alma Mater. That's right, Lumberjack vs. Red Raider in Lubbock. The two teams have a basketball game Saturday morning. While no official bragging rights are on the line, like when Aggie plays Red Raider in football between Daryl and me, I will rub it in if Tech wins.

Brett Won Season Tickets to the Rangers?!

Yes, I won season tickets to the Texas Rangers. I won them through a radio contest where you call in once every hour and offer something to trade for the tickets. At the end of the day the radio guys decide who had the best stuff to trade for. Well they picked me. So I won two season tickets for the Rangers' '08 season and a parking pass for all 81 home games. Sounds great doesn't it?

Well what I offered to trade was the catch. I offered Alexis' car. I wasn't sure on the value of the car so I thought it might be a good trade plus we are thinking about buying Alexis a new one. But I did not run this by her before I offered it up. When she got home I told her was was going on and she kind of laughed, but after a little convincing she was behind the whole thing. A little nervous, but behind it. We found out at 5:30 that I had won, and the tickets were ours. That night we went car shopping because we had to give them the car by the 9th of this month. Everything seemed to be in order.

Then we were able to sleep on it. And isn't it funny how choices that seem good at first only need a few hours of sleep to not be nearly as good. When I got to work the next morning, I looked to see where the seats were, they weren't great. I knew how much the value of the tickets was so I looked up the value of her car to compare. I thought her car would be worth more, but not much more. As it turns out her car was worth 2 or 3 times more than the tickets. Good thing I checked. I called Alexis at school and told her that we weren't going to keep the tickets, I got no complaints from her.

Anyway I called the station and I am no longer a Rangers season ticket holder. So close, but no. Weird story, huh?

One last thing. We will put up our Halloween pictures sometime this weekend, and some pictures of what Ace does when we aren't home.

Back to the LBK

This past weekend was the first time that I have been back to Texas Tech since I graduated. I went back for the annual beat down of Daryl's Texas A&M Aggies. I will get to the game and all of the festivities later, but first Lubbock.


Things have changed!! Across the street from the university used to be old and run down. It didn't really look great and most of the buildings were vacant. But now, the buildings are new, the businesses will actually make it, and the architecture of the buildings matches that of the university. It's really amazing how much nicer and friendlier it makes the area look. That's not the only new things going on in Lubbock. The city is adding a new highway in and around town, so far there is just construction, but you can see the plans starting to take shape.


As for the university, they are planning on adding onto the football stadium, and they are currently working on a water park that will be near the rec center that includes a lazy river around the intramural fields. That will be really cool.


There are lots of projects going on and the area around the university finally looks nice.


Now for the game. We arrived at the tail-gate around 11 a.m. We were greeted with jalapeno poppers, hot dogs, brats, burgers, and of course the official beverage of Texas Tech, cold beer. The tailgate was great, hundreds of trucks, RVs and grills. Tents were set up with couches and TVs playing various football games going on across the country and dozens of Texas flags, Tech flags and pirate flags. A great atmosphere. People everywhere. One thing I noticed, the student body seems to stay the same age even as I grow older, I may appreciate that more as I get older.

Earlier in the week a frat guy came up with the idea for a t-shirt just for the game against the Aggies. The shirt said Vick'em of the front and had a football player wearing the number 7 hanging Reveille, the Aggies dog mascot. The shirt was discontinued and Tech officials apologized to the A&M officials for the shirt. I was upset about the shirt and thought it was a bad idea at first, but after seeing them, I thought there were hilarious. I only saw a few, and they weren't nearly as bad as the shirt I saw that said "OJ'em" on the front, and had a picture of OJ stabbing the Aggie dog mascot. For the most part the fans were great and the rivalry was great.

I had forgotten how electric the atmosphere is for a Red Raider home game. I guess it was one of the things that I took for granted while I was there. Once I was in the stadium I was taken back to the first time I entered the stadium and how it made me feel. I was in awe. I remembered all the great games, catches, and hits I had seen there. It was great.

We found our seats which were in the shade. There was about a 20 mph wind blowing through the stadium, typical Lubbock. We got the ball to start the game, and we went three and out. Then the Aggies got the ball. They rumbled down the field and scored easily, it looked like it was going to be a long day for us, and it also looked like the Aggie running back who guaranteed a victory for them was going to make good on his promise. However, it was not to be for the Aggies. That was the only time they would score. We dominated the rest of the game. We scored 21 points in the second quarter to go up 21-7 at the half. The Aggies did not even get to our half of the field in the third quarter. They did not even score in the 4th when we had our mop-up defense on the field. We took it to 'em for the final three quarters and left no doubt who was the better team. Not a bad first game back for me to go to at all. The final score was 35-7. After the game we headed back to the tailgate spot for Victory Beers. It was a great win, and a great day. And it will be a great year as I have locked up bragging rights over Daryl...again.

The State Fair of Texas

It is that time of year. The weather starts to cool down to 95, and football season is in full swing. Yes it is that time of year. Time for the State Fair of Texas. Alexis and I took our annual trip to the fair last night. Now, I don't know who, if anyone reads my little rants, but this is for those of you who have not had the honor of experiencing the State Fair.

The fair takes place annually at the appropriately named Fair Park. This is the home of the Cotton Bowl and the giant Texas Star Farris wheel (which I won't ride). The "hood" surrounding the fairgrounds could rival any inner-city, poverty stricken, gang infested, graffiti covered ghetto in the country. It seems pretty rough and there is nothing nice around the fairgrounds. It is the type of area that could have really benefited from the economic stimulation brought on by building the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium in the area, but Dallas' not-so-much-of-a-thinker mayor decided the new stadium would be a better fit in Arlington, leaving no economic benefit to the city that is associated with America's Team. Anyway, the area around the fair is ghetto.

But once inside the nurturing biosphere of the State Fair, you quickly forget what waits for you as you return to your car at the end of your fair experience (if your car has not been stolen). The State Fair of Texas is a treat for all of the senses. The people, while not purposely dressed as clowns or other comical characters, often look ridiculous. Jorts (jean shorts for guys) to one's ankles, big baggy shirts that could double as a dress, dirty clothes, clothes that are way too tight, sideways hats, gold teeth, and the nappy, ungroomed goatees. It truly is a meeting ground of the substandard people of the Texan society. The pathways through the fair are littered with flashing lights, dirty carnys, police and rides that look as entertaining as they do unsafe. In fact we saw a carny (a worker at the fair, usually white trash) being escorted out of the park by four police, he was probably drunk or high.

While walking through the fair one can't help but notice the gourmet items those crazy carnys have cookin'. Things like alligator sausage, fried coke, fried cookie dough, fried latte, fried guacamole, fried fries, fried cosmopolitans, fried queso, (are you noticing a trend?), fried peanut butter jelly and banana sandwiches, and of course the corny dogs. As bad as most of that sounds, there are a few items that are eatable, but of course will require a trip to the fair's angioplasty booth. Alexis and I love the corny dogs (a true fair staple), funnel cakes, and the fried macaroni and cheese. None of which can be found at a salad bar. After our dinner, we felt like he had gained about four pounds and we could feel the grease swishing around in our belly.

We did see some good things at the fair. We checked out the animal exhibits including the grand champion steer. Which was sold for $94,000, you will be able to see him soon in your grocers meat department. We went through the petting zoo, which now that I look back on that, may have been the grossest thing I have ever done. First of all, they are petting zoo animals, they don't exactly live in the cleanest conditions, unless you consider saw dust, hay and poo clean. Then throw in the nasty people mentioned earlier touching the gross animals...you got yourself a petting zoo!!

Our evening wrapped up with a pig race, but most of the people in the stands could have used the exercise more than the pigs as they watched the race with a bag of popcorn in one hand and a turkey leg in the other. We also toured the car show, which I can't twist that and make it sound bad. Unless...you consider that the same people who were at the petting zoo were probably a lot of the same people touching the cars, sitting in them, and imagining themselves behind the wheel of the latest model, just like Alexis and I did. Gross.

The State Fair of Texas is truly a great experience. The art exhibits are nicely put together, the entertainment is top rate (there are concerts almost every night and parades too), and the atmosphere can't be beat.

State Fair of Texas; I will see you next year!

Happy Birthday to Alexis!

Today is her birthday! Sadly, I am no longer a year older.

We went out for her birthday dinner the other night. We went to a place call Buca di Bepo, it was an Italian place. She really liked it, it was pretty good. Why aren't we going out for her birthday dinner tonight you ask? Well, she wants to stay in and watch the season premiere of Gray's Anatomy. Hey its her birthday, she can do what she wants.

Give her a call and wish her a happy birthday. You won't be the first one to wish her a happy birthday, that was me. She really likes it when people call and burst into the 'Happy Birthday' song.

Updates

Before we get to updates, I have some thoughts on this weekend's football game. How does Tech pile up 718 yards on offense and lose? The answer: the defense is so bad the Defensive Coordinator resigns the next day. Bad Bad Bad.

OK, updates. I recently achieved the status of Registered Landman (RL) by the American Association of Petroleum Landmen, (AAPL). This status is achieved by a recommendation by a Certified Professional Landman (a CPL is the industry standard for top landmen, they make more money and have the cool jobs, that is my ultimate goal, but I will not be eligible for that for another 6 years), also I had to pass a test. It's not really a huge deal, its more like a small step toward my goal of becoming a CPL, but I am excited about it and so are my superiors at Devon. For work documents and work e-mails, I have the initials RL after my name. Sort of like a doctor, but not really, I am not qualified to perform surgeries, except for splinter removals and applying ice to swollen body parts.

Alexis continues to brighten the future of America by inspiring and teaching the leaders of tomorrow. Maybe one day she will write something of substance about how she likes her job, instead of my interpretation of what she tells me. She is getting used to her kids and her new schedule. She does have this cool 'Good Morning' song that she plays for the kids every morning. I say it's cool because she taught it to Brynna and sometimes she sings it to me when I am having trouble waking up.

Two For the Grown-Up Table, Please.
This weekend Alexis and I decided that we should decorate our living room. This was long over due since we have lived in our place for about 4 months now. We bought three things for the walls. None of which had anything to do posters, pop-culture or collegiate loyalties. We got a mirror that matches our entertainment cabinet and entry way table, a metal circely, with squares, little candles on it thingy for above the fireplace (I know that description makes no sense, but that's what it is), and some art for above the TV. Let me tell you about this art. The guy at the store said it was a contemporary piece. Alexis and I both fell that we could easily do it our selves. It looks like Alexis recruited her best finger painter from her class and had the kid finger paint and drizzle paint splatters all over some canvas. We both agree that it's awesome though. The house looks more permanent and we felt pretty grown up after we had everything hung, it's pretty cool.

Don't forget, or let me forget, that Alexis' birthday is this Thursday, the 27. She will be 24. She wants a pony, world peace and a Play Station 3.

Happy Birthday to Me.

Today is just one of the annual events that I have circled on my calendar. I'm now 24, and since Alexis is just 23, that makes me one year older than her...for a week anyway. We don't have anything special tonight. I will just be watching Aggie vs Hurricane and hoping for a miracle win by Hurricane.

Last night Alexis and I celebrated my birthday. We went to a steakhouse called Truluck's. It was awesome. The food was great, the service was great, the bill was tough to swallow. Alexis and I are not getting presents for each other right now since we both bought a couple of big things back in August, but I will be receiving the greatest birthday present ever on Friday...Alexis gets her first real pay check since we have been married!!! I could not be more excited about that.

Football news. This weekend's game features the opening of the Big 12 season for Tech. They will be playing Cowboy from Oklahoma State in Lubbock. It should be a good game, both teams don't play a whole lot of defense.

Check back next week.

Labor Day

If you thought this was an update letting you know how Alexis is liking her first days of teaching Kindergarten, you are mistaken. I don't know why she has not posted anything, but she has been really busy this week and likes things so far. Maybe she will post an update this weekend. Who knows. But for know you are stuck reading what I write for you. More Football. This coming Monday brings Red Raider vs. Mustang to the table. I don't really think much of this match-up and I feel most people expect Red Raider to blow out Mustang. But lets consider this:
SMU's football team is making a comeback from the cellar of the NCAA, they are getting better. This may be their only regular season televised game and its their first game of the season. And how about this: The game has been completely sold out! This game is a big deal to SMU, and it is one of only two college football games that will be nationally televised on Monday. With that being said, I think Tech will win by about a thousand points, maybe more.

Diana, I am curious on where you stand on this game, I know you hold a special place in your heart for SMU. I know Brynna will be supporting the Red and Black in her Cheerleader outfit.

Isn't the new color scheme of the blog great?

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Football season is my favorite time of year. Its by far the best of the five seasons (Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, and Football) So let’s preview the upcoming football season. First of all the college football season for me gets started with the kick-off of the Tech vs. SMU game. It should be the usual Texas Tech ass-kickery of unworthy, half-ass, non-conference opponents. It’s good for our stat sheets. I am predicting a big win. I will be attending that game and hosting a tailgate party before. Abandon all hope; all ye who oppose Texas Tech.
Pay attention to the college football season. During the Bowl Season I host a pool to see who can most accurately predict the winners of all 863 bowl games. Last year I won, and my dad came in last…Seriously, who picks A&M over Cal?!

As for the NFL…I have the Cowboys beating the JV team in Houston this weekend for both team’s third pre-season game. “The pre-season doesn’t matter,” you say. They keep score. It matters. My Super Bowl winner prediction is the New England Patriots. I’m right.

Feel free to e-mail me your football questions, even stupid ones. I can answer them.

Subway. Eat Fresh.

Background. I go to Subway. I know that somewhere along the way the quality of the products they serve has to be compromised in order to keep their prices where they are. But I go. It’s cheap and I like it. More background. Cleburne is a small town, but over the past few years it has experienced exponential growth due to the county’s phenomenal gas wells. The main street through town is five lanes and always packed, several national chain stores as well as restaurants have popped up, and the population is booming. With that being said the bustling small city of Cleburne has 1 Subway to feed all of the business people and other residents of the town. It is not unusual to wait a good 20 minutes for a sandwich.

So today I left to Subway around 11:20 hoping to beat the rush at the local Subway. I walked in and I was the fourth person in line. My plan seemed to be working. The guy that was three people in front of me placed his order, “I need 7 sandwiches,” he said. Damn. So much for in and out. Of course each one has to be slightly different, and it had to be toasted. Lets talk about “toasted” at Subway. I don’t think it’s a toaster oven. I think it’s a nuclear powered, radio-active, glorified microwave. That guy alone took about ten minutes. The lady two people in front of me, and by lady I mean an 18 year old girl with her baby, ordered the grossest sandwich I have ever heard of. Here it is: White bread, pepperoni, bacon, American cheese, mayo and a little lettuce (the Subway lettuce reminds me of St. Augustine grass). What about that sounds good? Wait, and she had it toasted. Gross. Gross. Gross. While I was there, they ran out of bacon and American cheese. I finally made it out of there about thirty minutes after I came in.

I would not go back, but it’s the only one for about ten miles so I have to. Plus, when I go back, it always seems to make me laugh in hind-site.

Busy Sunday

Sunday was busy for us. Usually we use it as a day to sleep in and take it easy before another week of work gets going. We started the day with our first trip ever to the Fort Worth Stock Yards. We thought it was pretty cool. We had a chance to see some longhorn steers up close and we could even touch them, we weren't supposed to though. There were lots of good places to eat and all kinds of junk shops everywhere. But it had the feel of the old west. We took a few pictures so check those out. I would have made a great cowboy.

After the Stock Yards we headed out to play mini golf. I dominate mini golf, except not today. It was down to the wire and Alexis pulled off the upset. She beat me by one stroke. But let it be known that I let her win. It was a good round of mini golf. (Alexis says, "Brett does not 'let' anyone beat him.")

The last thing we did was take Ace to a new dog park. There is a dog park is at White Rock Lake right on the shores and about ten minutes from our house. The dog park has an area where the dogs can go into the lake, we started there because we wanted watch the real dogs swim and play in the water. Well Ace was pulling on his leash like he wanted to go play in the water. Alexis let him off and sure enough, he went straight into the lake. We were shocked. He was playing in the water. He didn't get deep enough to swim, he just waded around in the water with the other dogs. It was almost like he was a real dog. Alexis and I were amazed. We didn't get any pictures, so imagine it.

The River Dance, River Dance '07

Since we have moved to Dallas, or Big D, we have been deprived of a river to float near us. Alexis always had access to several rivers while she was in college and it was always a fun day when you spent it on the river with your friends. So one slow day at work I drove east of town in search f the Brazos River. I found it and sure enough there were tube rental places. We were in business. I made plans with the tube rental place and told them we would be back on Saturday, we planned to take the four hour trip.

Several of us made the trip to the Brazos on Saturday; Alexis, Chris, Eric, Jack, Riddell, and me. It was a scorcher of a day and people were bound to get sun burned. The river was wide and the scenery was very nice, there was even a small waterfall that poured into a lagoon on the side f the river. It was good company and a lot of fun. Then the river went on, and on, and on. Four hours into the trip we still had not come to the landmark that meant an hour and a half left. At about five hours we drifted to a rope swing. Most of us got out of the river to release the inner child on the rope swing. We swung several times, but on one fateful swing I broke my left little toe. I must have hit in on a root. Much pain. There wasn't much we could do for it there so I just rubbed some beer on it and we went on our way.

After seven hours on the river, we finally made it to the pick up point. Seven hours in the blazing North Texas sun was awful. By the time we got out of the river, my toe was no longer recognizable as a toe. It was brown and purple and looked like a smashed rotten grape. Anyway we learned that next time we would take the short river trip, and not break our toes.

As for sun burns, there were plenty. I got a little sun on my chest, but that was expected since I have the curse of the fair skin. Alexis' legs were burned pretty bad, they have started to tan, but they are still uncomfortable. The rest of the guys were all burned pretty badly. Chris who didn't use any sun screen on his chest (but did put a shirt on about 2 hours into the trip) felt the worst.

All in all, it wasn't the best river trip ever, but it was better than no river trip I guess.

The One Year Anniversary

Saturday was the one year anniversary for Alexis and me. That's right, one year ago we got married. Time flys. Lots has happened in that year; graduation from college, new jobs all around, three new homes, a dog, all sorts of stuff. This first year has been very busy for both of us, and we have really enjoyed every minute of it. Anyway, here's what we did.

We started our anniversary like everyone else does, we woke up and had Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Coke. That's what everyone does, right? I bought some flowers for Alexis, lilies. She really liked them. Later, Andrew came over to help me put up a gazebo that we bought. Its made of metal and canvas, and its about ten feet by ten feet. A day or two before we put down flag stones to create a little patio area, so that's why we bought the gazebo. Everything came out pretty good, it is a good sitting and grilling area for the back yard. (Side note. There is netting to keep mosquitoes out that surrounds the gazebo, I guess Ace can't see the netting really well because one day he was running around like a crazy dog and ran into the screen putting a big hole in our brand new gazebo, oh well.) Anyway Saturday night Alexis and I went out to dinner at Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse (an all-time favorite), dinner was great and then for desert we went to the Cheesecake Factory, we got some sort of cheesecake, it was really good. It was a really good day all around.

Dog news. Thank you Grandmother Ruth for submitting the only name idea. However, we aren't going to get another dog. We figured that Ace is enough for us for now. Two dogs, that's twice as many was we have now, and four dogs short of a herd.

Check out the new pictures, we have patio pictures, house pictures, and Ace pictures.

The Weekend Report

This weekend we actually did some stuff. Pay attention. Around noon on Saturday Alexis and I went to a meet-n-greet for a local Labrador Rescue foundation at a pet store. We have been thinking about getting another dog and we knew one we were interested in was going to be there so we went to have a look. The dog was really good. She and Ace got along really well. The next day a volunteer with the lab rescue came by to take a look at our house and make sure it was good enough for a stray dog. We were once again deemed good enough to own a stray dog, so sometime soon Alexis and I will have two big dogs. The dog is a yellow female lab, seemingly laid back, and about ten pounds lighter than Ace. She was found wondering the streets in Denton County and was picked up from there. She was a good dog, but could use some simple training, nothing Alexis and I can't handle. We are not yet sure what we are going to name her. Please submit your ideas to us and if we use your idea for a name, you will win eleventy billion dollars. Good luck.

Saturday afternoon brought a day of golf for me. I went with Andrew and Chris. None of us are any good, and we know it. But we still wanted to get out while there was no rain and play a round. We decided that in the interest of time, we would just play the best ball. That worked out OK but usually there was nothing good about playing the best ball, usually all of our shots were bad. We would have the occasional good shot, which kept us interested.

That night Alexis met up with us and all of us went out to dinner with Chris' parents. Chris just got a promotion so we were out celebrating. The food was good.

At dinner I ordered the baby back ribs. I thought they were good and that I would try and make my own. How hard could it be, we have a grill. So on Sunday before the lab rescue lady came by I went to the store and bought some baby back ribs. All of the recipes I found called for you to boil the ribs before you grilled them. I figured you could just grill them. Anyway I decided to boil the ribs for about an hour. I threw in some bay leaves, onion, cracked pepper and mashed garlic. An hour and a half later, after they had been boiled and then finished on the grill, they were done. The verdict from Alexis was that they were great. I agreed. So whoever comes to visit, be warned, you are getting the ribs. And you will like it.

I would also like to thank Daryl, Diana, Brynna and Rocky who were nice enough to let me stay at there house and feed me pizza. I had to go to San Antonio for work and I stayed with them. While I was there,I heard Daryl say something along the lines of how he is really starting to like Texas Tech. Good for him.

Alexis, posted some new pictures incase you forgot what we look like. Also, one of these days we will take pictures of the new casa.

The Past Couple of Weekends

As few and far between as the blogs have been you would think that Alexis and I have been really busy. Well that would be true. Every weekend we have either been out of town or we have had guests staying with us. Most recently Alexis' parents two weeks ago and Alison Sills most recently.

Alexis' parents stayed for three nights and Alison stayed for two. Recently the weather has been pretty good compared to the forty days and forty nights worth of rain Sonny and Celeste came in for.

Speaking of good weather, we actually got some for the Fourth of July. Alexis, Ace and I went to Chris Johnson's parents house for a huge celebration they throw every year. Ace had a blast running, sniffing, and jumping on the trampoline. He did not swim, or like the fireworks. In fact, Alexis had to babysit him in the house because he was so scared of the fireworks.

Keep checking back, one of these days we are going to put some new pictures up and I will try to keep this more current.

Just so You Are Up to Speed

Well this past weekend brought many people to the new house. My mom and dad came up to Big D for the weekend. They had not been up to see Alexis and me for about 8 months. It was a good visit. Also, the Bereek and Uncle Mike came in for some grilling. Of course it was raining and we had to grill in the rain. Which means we had to grill in the garage. We made it work though, people seemed to enjoy the food.

Alexis and I planted some plants on the front of the house. We spoke with our next door neighbor the other day and he told us that the neighbors loved us because we were the only people in about 10 years who had done work on the yard, besides mowing. It is starting to look good, the flowers are blooming, and the mulch under the tree (I still have posion ivy, more in fact) looks great and kept up.

This weekend should be good too, Alexis is heading to New Braunfels to float the river with her girl friends, and I am going camping with the guys, Ace is staying at Hotel B'Reek. Check back next week for more info on our exciting lives. We know you will.

Its Been a While

It has been a while since Alexis and I managed to get some new material up for you. It seems like so much has happened since our last blog. Let me think. Here is what's new.



We moved, and not into the house that we were supposed to purchase, but into the house that we found in University Park. Moving out was a pain, not for us, but for the 4 guys we hired to move our stuff down 4 flights of stair and down the block in the rain. Once we were in the house we noticed several 'imperfections' that had developed over the houses 60+ year history. Most notably the roof. It was in sad shape. We made sure that the owners knew this and also we wanted to make sure that they knew we wanted it to be replaced. (the roof was replaced and they finished yesterday, it makes it look like a different house) Now that we have been there for about two weeks we have started to give the lawn a little TLC. We have put weed killer down as well as fertilizer. There is also a big tree in the front yard that had lots and lots of ivy growing on it and on the ground around it. So one afternoon Alexis and I tried to rip out all of the ivy on the ground. This was no small task. We filled up 10 garbage bags with ivy. A small amount of the ivy that we took out was poison ivy. I have a pretty bad case of it, ,but Alexis managed not to get any on her. But our hard work paid off and in a few weeks the lawn will look great.

Keep checking back because we will be getting internet later this week, so for now I am getting back to work.

Alexis Has a Career!

It finally happened...Alexis is a teacher!! She was offered and accepted a job as a Kindergarten Teacher in Richardson ISD. Alexis will be teaching at Northwood Hills Elementary School. She interviewed with them on Monday, and on Tuesday received the offer. Next fall will mark the beginning of her new career. I am very proud of her and I think she will do a wonderful job educating the leaders of tomorrow. Feel free to leave comments of congratulations and encouragement.

Congratulations Diana

I would like to take this time to recognize Diana's new steps in trying to reach what is the pinnacle of cool...being like me. Her decision to reach the ultimate cool is applauded and should be viewed as an example for all others to follow.

May this quote from Diana inspire you, "Just wanted to let you all know that in my quest to be ever more like Brett..." I think those are words we can all live by. Diana is wise beyond her years.

More new house news

So as most of you may have heard, the new house thing feel through. The bank called us the day before closing and told me that they would not be able to fund our mortgage. The logic being that since I am self employed I must have two years of self employment history. I don't have that. As it turns out, this is something they should have told us on the first day, not the day before closing. Oh well. Now Alexis and I have gone through pretty much the entire home buying process without buying a home, we're pros.

Since we didn't get that house, we decided to rent a house. We looked at three houses and the final one we looked at we loved. It is in University Park, thats where SMU is, in fact we are about two blocks from the university. Anyway, it's a two bed, one bath house with a detached two car garage. The house is in great shape and was built the 1930's. Alexis and I are really excited since it is in such a nice part of town. It is still close to Downtown and other fun stuff. Its closer to work for Alexis and it has a yard for Ace. We move at the end of this month, stay tuned for pictures.

Texas Independence Day

I got an e-mail from Larry Watkins the other day inviting one and all out to Love and War in Texas to attend a Texas Independence Day celebration. Love and War in Texas is a county music venue with an outdoor stage and beer garden and a restaurant on the inside. Larry said that the place was pretty kickerish, not exactly our scene, but we figured we would have a good time anyway. Now usually Andrew would be the first person we call to check this out, he would have loved it, but he wasn’t in town so we enlisted Eric to join us, it wasn’t his scene either. We get there around 8 pm after walking about a quarter mile from our car. The place was packed. As we expected it was cowboy country. It seemed like a stereotypical Texas dancehall scene from a movie. Cowboy hats, long wallets that stick out back pockets, Wrangler jeans, boots the whole nine. The band that was playing had a lead singer who looked like he had seen his fair share of full moons. He was old. He was very entertaining, his songs were lively and he had a good range in his voice. Most of his interludes between songs had to do with Jose Cuervo. So we met up with Larry and his wife and some of his old college frat brothers. Eric and I ordered a bucket of beers, and on this chilly March night they never got warm, or rodeo cool as we say in Texas. At one point I ordered a beer that was close to a gallon, I was up to the challenge. Alexis spent most of the evening talking with Larry’s daughter and her friend who were our age. It was a good time had by all. The odd thing is that my old boss, Larry, got there with his wife long before us, and left after us! It was a great way to celebrate Texas Independence Day.

Cleburne, Texas

This past weekend Alexis and I braved the dust storm that was covering North Texas and took a day trip to Cleburne. I wanted to show her the bustling metropolis where I work now. It is a sharp contrast from the glass and steel towers of Dallas to the horse and buggy town of Cleburne. It takes about an hour from our loft in Downtown to get to Downtown Cleburne where I work. My office is nothing special as you can tell from the pictures. In some of the pictures you can see how brown the sky is from the dust storm that was taking place. There are some pictures of the office where I spend most of my day and also a couple of pictures of the Johnson County Courthouse where I spend the rest of my time.

And what trip to a small town in Texas would be complete without a stop at the local Dairy Queen? So after taking in the sights, which didn't take long, we stopped at DQ for a Blizzard. The place was pretty busy and we felt like we were really taking in the culture of the small town. Pretty exciting stuff in Cleburne. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

A Day in the Life of...

...Alexis. Since graduating in December, I have been subbing for elementary schools around the Dallas/Richardson area. On Monday, I was subbing for a lovely 1st grade class at the school where I student taught, when the principal called me into her office. She asked if I would like to take over a long term sub job until the end of the year. I thought that it sounded like a great opportunity! She smiled and then said that it was for 6th grade math. I immediately said, "Sure." I like math, so that was not a problem, but 6th graders instead of 6 year olds? Oh geez. So on Wednesday morning I started teaching math that I have not reviewed since I was in 6th grade. I only have three classes (25/25/7) and 30 minute period where I have to do something (I have not figured it out yet) with 30 students. My teaching is going to be rough for a while since I am replacing another long term sub that did not make other people happy. The staff is very supportive though, so it will be a good experience. This job should lead to a permanent job opportunity at this school or another one in the district, but I still miss my sweet little kindergarteners!!!

A Day in the Life of...

...Brett. That's right, I started a new job this week. It was a big promotion for me. So let me take a moment to run through a typical day with you.

8:30 arrive at work. I wear jeans and tennis shoes, and on Fridays I wear my Tech hat. It is really laid back. Once I start my work for the day I am responsible for running title to a particular lease that Devon has. Right now I am running the title on a lot that is only 1.939 acres. It is the minerals underneath their home. Running title means going back and researching each owner of the minerals since Texas granted it to the first private owner or until about 1900. We do this to make sure that the person we are paying for the minerals is in fact the rightful owner. It seems really dull, but it is difficult to figure out all of the owners and all of the stipulations of the deal when they made it. I like it. Anyway. Some times I have to go to the county courthouse to check the public records. It is right down the street so I just walk. Its good to get out of the office and get some air. At EnCana I was chained to m desk. so when lunch rolls around I go out to eat with my co-workers and take about an hour. Then its back to work and I leave around 4:30. That's it. It is a great job, low stress, good pay, and a casual work environment.

Done with EnCana

Friday marked my last day at EnCana. I'm done!! On to the next job. Friday was a pretty easy day for me at work, I didn't do a whole lot, but thats no different than what I usually do. After work my supervisor took some co-workers and me out for drinks. Good times. Alexis met up with us at the restaurant.

Also Alexis got paid for the first time since she started subbing. So congrats to her on her first pay check. She also looked into different school districts around Dallas where she might want to work. We aren't real sure where she will end up, but she is leaning toward Richardson ISD.

We finally took Diana and Daryl up on their wedding present. In march they are shipping us off for a newly wed weekend conference. It will be at the Gaylord Texan Hotel here in Grapevine. I will be referring to the hotel as the Great Texan Hotel. Gaylord sounds too gay for me. So if anyone wants to baby sit Ace for the weekend, he's yours.

That's pretty much it for now, next week should be interesting with the new job starting. Landman. Not Farmer.

Ace

As promised in our annual news letter, Alexis and I have made an addition to our family. His name is Ace. He is a 77lb black lab that we addopted from DFW Lab Rescue. he is adjusting nicely to his new home. He knows sit, stay, shake, crate, and up. He is really nice and we rarely hear him bark. He likes to paw at you for your attention or he will just set his head on your lap. Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure. And as you would expect he doesn't like the Aggies, loves the Red Raiders, and his role model is Bobby Knight. Feel free to come an check him out anytime. We are not sure when we will be able to get him out of Dallas and take him on a Texas tour.

Brett's New Job

After months of anticipation, I finally have a new job. As of Monday February 12th I will be a Landman for Devon. Finally. I turned in the resignation with EnCana on Tuesday and everything went over smoothly. Things just weren't working out here and I wasn't going to try to build my career on 'Maybe,' or 'In the future,' or ' You need to pay some dues first.' Not all was bad at EnCana, I did get a lot of exposure to the industry, but now its out to the front lines for me.

At Devon I will be a contract Feild Landman. This includes mineral title searches and research, leasing, and being the public's contact with the industry. As a Feild Landman I will basically be self employed. I will be able to work when and where I want. I am excited about the flexibility, but nervous about the added responsibility. I have plans to work towards gaining the title of Certified Professional Landman (CPL) which is the industry standard for professionalism, education, and experience. That's down the road though. This move is a big promotion for me and I couldn't be more thrilled.

The First of Many

In an effort to keep the world updated with our exciting life together, we have created this site.