This weekend Alexis and I bought some new bikes. She mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to ride bikes, but she did not have one to ride. We looked at several different bike shops around town and she had a couple that she liked but one in particular. She bought a Cannondale step-over frame, hybrid style bike. It fits her very well. It is black and silver. It does not have an orange flag, basket, or handlebar tassels.
Because I have a road bike, I figured this would be a good time to get a new mountain bike; since riding around the neighborhood on a road bike isn’t very comfortable. So we bought a mountain bike for me as well. It is an entry level Giant mountain bike.
So far we have enjoyed a couple of rides together. Last night we went on one for over an hour. We rode the Katy Trail which is a paved trail that connects the SMU area where we live to American Airlines Center (where the Mavs and Stars play). The trail runs through the heart of Uptown and is very busy with joggers and other bikers in the evenings. We had a really good time and at the end of the ride we were both pretty tired. At the start of the ride, we both felt like little kids, I guess we got over it.
Its just one more thing that the two of us can do together outside when the weather is good.
And no, we have not stopped the blog.
More to follow.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Family News
Alexis and I are about to be an aunt and uncle again. My sister and her husband are expecting their second child. The last kid they had, they did not reveal the sex of the kid. I thought that was dumb, in fact no one liked that little game they played. This time around they have revealed the sex of the new kid. I do not know how many people they have told, but the four or five people who read this are about to know too: they are going to have a boy. I have also been entrusted with some other secret information involving naming. I know the name, and since I did not appreciate being left out in the dark last time around, I am going to make sure everyone else knows too. There should not be secrets between family members. So here is the name of the new boy baby that will arrive some time in August: Brandon Lucas Tripp. You are welcome.
You can get to thier blog by clicking on www.dtripp.com be sure that you leave them a congrats on the baby and picking a name. Tell them I sent you.
You can get to thier blog by clicking on www.dtripp.com be sure that you leave them a congrats on the baby and picking a name. Tell them I sent you.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
DAPL
As a Landman in the Dallas area, I am a member of Dallas Association of Petroleum Landmen (DAPL). This organization is made up of Landmen from all around the city and from all different companies. I like it and I try to stay pretty active in it. I actually got he job I have now through someone I met at a DAPL golf tournement. DAPL hosts social gatherings, casual meetings, parties, and a formal meeting. Its mostly a bunch of guys who network and walk around thinking we are more important than we actually are. Its good times, I enjoy it.
Well tonight was the formal DAPL meeting at the Dallas Petroleum Club. To be member of the Petroleum Club you have to be invited and its made up of Dallas' most elite Oilmen; I am not a member of that. But they allow different organizations to use thier nice facility on the 39th floor of Chase Tower, so that's where we were tonight. There were several of my co-workers at the event which included cocktails, dinner, and a speaker. The speaker tonight was the man who owns the company I work for and that bears his name.
The speaker is one of the richest men in America. And since Alexis and I were seated at a table made up of his employees we had the privilidge of meeting him. It was pretty cool. If you click on this link http://www.dapl.org/ then it will give you a hint of who I am talking about and where I work. (last time I posted the name of my company once and I was told by the company to remove thier name from my blog). We had a really good time, well I did, Alexis got bored at times. But she enjoyed meeting my co-workers and I was sure glad she came with me.
Well tonight was the formal DAPL meeting at the Dallas Petroleum Club. To be member of the Petroleum Club you have to be invited and its made up of Dallas' most elite Oilmen; I am not a member of that. But they allow different organizations to use thier nice facility on the 39th floor of Chase Tower, so that's where we were tonight. There were several of my co-workers at the event which included cocktails, dinner, and a speaker. The speaker tonight was the man who owns the company I work for and that bears his name.
The speaker is one of the richest men in America. And since Alexis and I were seated at a table made up of his employees we had the privilidge of meeting him. It was pretty cool. If you click on this link http://www.dapl.org/ then it will give you a hint of who I am talking about and where I work. (last time I posted the name of my company once and I was told by the company to remove thier name from my blog). We had a really good time, well I did, Alexis got bored at times. But she enjoyed meeting my co-workers and I was sure glad she came with me.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
New Pictures
We have finally posted some pictures. Some are from Easter, which we sent in Friendswood; it was lovely. So look at the pictures. Steve is in most of them. Enjoy
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Upcoming
For those of you who tried to guess how much Steve weighed at his last vet visit if you guessed 16 pounds, you were right. Thanks for playing.
As some of you may remember, and if you don’t remember just read the blog about the cruise, we met some really cool people on the cruise that we hung out with a lot. Well a couple of weekends ago they came up for a weekend visit. They came up Friday and left Sunday, it was a good visit. We caught a Stars hockey game with them Saturday night. Our seats were really good. We had a really good time and we think they did too. It was probably the first time we really got to hang out with married people, usually we are stuck with my friends from college.
This week Alexis is in San Antonio to visit her friend Jayne, and I will be left to my own devices holding down the fort.
For those of you who are interested in our Easter plans, keep reading. The Thursday before we will pack up the heard of dogs we have a drive to Friendswood. Alexis’ grandparents will also be there. We have not seen them since we got married. We will be spending the majority of time with her family, but will be staying with my parents. That weekend Daryl and Diana will also be staying with my parents and they too will have their dog. Also, my parents are dog-sitting for a friend. So if you do some quick math you will conclude that there will five dogs at my parent’s house. It will resemble a zoo when they are all there. It should be a good weekend.
As some of you may remember, and if you don’t remember just read the blog about the cruise, we met some really cool people on the cruise that we hung out with a lot. Well a couple of weekends ago they came up for a weekend visit. They came up Friday and left Sunday, it was a good visit. We caught a Stars hockey game with them Saturday night. Our seats were really good. We had a really good time and we think they did too. It was probably the first time we really got to hang out with married people, usually we are stuck with my friends from college.
This week Alexis is in San Antonio to visit her friend Jayne, and I will be left to my own devices holding down the fort.
For those of you who are interested in our Easter plans, keep reading. The Thursday before we will pack up the heard of dogs we have a drive to Friendswood. Alexis’ grandparents will also be there. We have not seen them since we got married. We will be spending the majority of time with her family, but will be staying with my parents. That weekend Daryl and Diana will also be staying with my parents and they too will have their dog. Also, my parents are dog-sitting for a friend. So if you do some quick math you will conclude that there will five dogs at my parent’s house. It will resemble a zoo when they are all there. It should be a good weekend.
Friday, March 7, 2008
We Are Still Here
Wow its been a while, huh? Sorry it has taken this long, but we have been pretty busy lately.
Since I have missed about 1/6 of the year, I will re-start updating this on a fairly-regular basis. So know this: My new job is going great, Alexis is doing fine, Steve keeps getting bigger and Ace is…Ace.
Like I said I will try to keep this more up to date in the future. We will hopefully put some pictures up of our recent activities. I hope all is well with whoever is reading this, if anyone still does.
More to follow…soon!
Since I have missed about 1/6 of the year, I will re-start updating this on a fairly-regular basis. So know this: My new job is going great, Alexis is doing fine, Steve keeps getting bigger and Ace is…Ace.
Like I said I will try to keep this more up to date in the future. We will hopefully put some pictures up of our recent activities. I hope all is well with whoever is reading this, if anyone still does.
More to follow…soon!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
New Pictures Are Up
Alexis and I have finally delivered on putting up new pictures. Click on the link over on the right side of the page and check them out. You will find some Christmas, Cruise and Steve-O pictures.
Friday, January 18, 2008
New Job
Almost a year ago, I left EnCana for the opportunity to become an in-house Landman. The job that I took right after EnCana, wasn't quite what I wanted, but it paid well and I got some great field experience. Ever since I left EnCana, I have had my eye on any opportunity to move in-house. About three months ago, I met an employee of a large independent oil company, he asked if anyone was interested in working for his company. I said yes and we talked for a little while (as it turns out, he is a Red Raider as well). I sent him my resume the next day. He got back to me quickly, but informed me that they did not have anything for me at that time but he would keep my resume on file. Well I thought I would never hear back from that company again.
One Friday evening about two months later, I got a call from someone else in that company. He told me where he got my resume and that he would like to interview me for an open position. I gladly accepted the invitation for the interview. The interview went really well and I was invited back about a week later for a second interview and to meet the VP of Land. This interview went really well and I was introduced to some of the people around the office and shown where my office would be if I were hired. This was shortly before the Christmas holiday season.
After I got back from the cruise I called them, and about a week and a half later, they called me and offered me the job! I have accepted it, and on January 28, 2008 I will start there. Accepting this job means that I have reached my goal of becoming an in-house Landman in less than a year after leaving EnCana. If I would have stayed at EnCana, the time frame that they gave me was 4-5 years to become an in-house Landman. My gamble paid off.
I will be responsible for running a crew of Landmen in a very northern state. This company drills almost exclusively for oil, not natural gas like the other companies I have worked for. My new office will be in Downtown Dallas, about 6 miles from my house. I will no longer have to drive 125 miles round trip to get to and from work. I am being brought on as a contractor, but their plan is to make me a full time employee as soon as they get the OK to fill a full time position. Once they do get the OK to fill it, it will be mine. It is a great opportunity for me. I will be able to work with other companies on deals, I will work with geologist and drilling engineers and I will have people in another state who report to me.
Enough already...what's the name of the company? Well I cannot tell you, at least not in this medium. The company is very concerned about keeping their business private. They do not want me posting their name on the internet and that is also why I have left the region of the country I will be working vague.
Alexis and I are thrilled about the new job. It is all-around better than the job that I have now.
One Friday evening about two months later, I got a call from someone else in that company. He told me where he got my resume and that he would like to interview me for an open position. I gladly accepted the invitation for the interview. The interview went really well and I was invited back about a week later for a second interview and to meet the VP of Land. This interview went really well and I was introduced to some of the people around the office and shown where my office would be if I were hired. This was shortly before the Christmas holiday season.
After I got back from the cruise I called them, and about a week and a half later, they called me and offered me the job! I have accepted it, and on January 28, 2008 I will start there. Accepting this job means that I have reached my goal of becoming an in-house Landman in less than a year after leaving EnCana. If I would have stayed at EnCana, the time frame that they gave me was 4-5 years to become an in-house Landman. My gamble paid off.
I will be responsible for running a crew of Landmen in a very northern state. This company drills almost exclusively for oil, not natural gas like the other companies I have worked for. My new office will be in Downtown Dallas, about 6 miles from my house. I will no longer have to drive 125 miles round trip to get to and from work. I am being brought on as a contractor, but their plan is to make me a full time employee as soon as they get the OK to fill a full time position. Once they do get the OK to fill it, it will be mine. It is a great opportunity for me. I will be able to work with other companies on deals, I will work with geologist and drilling engineers and I will have people in another state who report to me.
Enough already...what's the name of the company? Well I cannot tell you, at least not in this medium. The company is very concerned about keeping their business private. They do not want me posting their name on the internet and that is also why I have left the region of the country I will be working vague.
Alexis and I are thrilled about the new job. It is all-around better than the job that I have now.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Off and Running
2008 is here. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Did anyone see the Gator Bowl...Tech won.
The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy for Alexis and me. As many of you know, Alexis and I opted for a cruise over the Christmas break. It was an 8 day cruise with stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We had a pretty good time and really enjoyed the hot weather.
The ship was pretty new, about 5 years old. There were lots of families on the ship, but not too many little kids, and the boat was full. Even though all of the rooms were full, you never felt cramped, and I often wondered where everybody was. Our room had a window, that was a great surprise since I didn't think that we were going to have one.
Our first stop was in Jamaica. We planned an excursion to go on a jungle tour that included zip cords. The zip cords were great fun. They ranged from 150 feet to over 1000 feet long. Some were tree to tree, mountain to tree, and the last one (the 1000 footer) was from one mountain to another mountain as you crossed a river beneath you. We had a lot of fun doing that. The rest of Jamaica was not good. It's not really a nice place. Razor wire around the resorts doesn't say 'vacation here!' to me. Oh well, we were only there for a few hours anyway.
The next stop was in Grand Cayman. It was much nicer than Jamaica, which isn't saying a whole lot. We went parasailing that morning. Alexis loved it, I was terrified. Later that day we found a private beach and put that to good use. While on that beach we thought that it would be really cool to go to one destination and just relax and get to know the area a little bit. No more of 8 hours here then there for us.
The last stop was in Cozumel, which brings me to the best part of our cruse. We met these really nice people, and it was just the two of them. We got along great with the couple and we had so much in common with them it was weird. We spent a lot down time with them while on the ship. We would just hang out during they day, have dinner together, go to the bars at night. Anyway, they vacation in Playa del Carmen every year which is just a short ferry ride from Cozumel. So we cancelled our planned excursion for that day and headed out with them to Playa del Carmen. We had a good day with them just relaxing on a beach.
Here is some other stuff from the cruise. The morning that we arrived in Jamaica, Alexis woke up with Pink Eye. Gross. If you have ever had or seen it, it's not pretty, if you have not had it or seen it, consider yourself lucky. I will not describe it, my eyes are watering just thinking about it. Alexis also got what seemed to be a heat rash, and we both got sinus infections while on the cruise. I can't believe anyone actually hung out with us. Other than that it was a pretty good trip. I don't know if we will do it again anytime soon though.
Other news.
Since Alexis and I have no desire to keep up with Daryl and Diana as far as having kids, we thought to ourselves, "What could we do that would take the attention away from them and put the spot light on us, even if it is just for a little while?" So not to be out done, here is what we came up with... We got another dog!! Yep, two dogs now. Ace and Steve, but you can call him Stevie, Steve-O, or really whatever, he is just a puppy, he has no idea what's going on. We bought him on Saturday. He is an English Bulldog. He is mostly brown with some white markings. He's small, bow-legged, and ugly. Alexis says he is cute. Ace seems to like him, by 'like him' I mean Ace has not eaten him for a snack...yet. We are hoping that he won't get much bigger than about 50 lbs, but that is not up to us. We have tons of pictures of him, but we have not posted them yet. You know how good we are about posting stuff.
We will be taking requests for things to teach him, just let us know. Like I said, we should be putting pictures of him up soon, maybe we can put up some cruise pictures too.
The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy for Alexis and me. As many of you know, Alexis and I opted for a cruise over the Christmas break. It was an 8 day cruise with stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We had a pretty good time and really enjoyed the hot weather.
The ship was pretty new, about 5 years old. There were lots of families on the ship, but not too many little kids, and the boat was full. Even though all of the rooms were full, you never felt cramped, and I often wondered where everybody was. Our room had a window, that was a great surprise since I didn't think that we were going to have one.
Our first stop was in Jamaica. We planned an excursion to go on a jungle tour that included zip cords. The zip cords were great fun. They ranged from 150 feet to over 1000 feet long. Some were tree to tree, mountain to tree, and the last one (the 1000 footer) was from one mountain to another mountain as you crossed a river beneath you. We had a lot of fun doing that. The rest of Jamaica was not good. It's not really a nice place. Razor wire around the resorts doesn't say 'vacation here!' to me. Oh well, we were only there for a few hours anyway.
The next stop was in Grand Cayman. It was much nicer than Jamaica, which isn't saying a whole lot. We went parasailing that morning. Alexis loved it, I was terrified. Later that day we found a private beach and put that to good use. While on that beach we thought that it would be really cool to go to one destination and just relax and get to know the area a little bit. No more of 8 hours here then there for us.
The last stop was in Cozumel, which brings me to the best part of our cruse. We met these really nice people, and it was just the two of them. We got along great with the couple and we had so much in common with them it was weird. We spent a lot down time with them while on the ship. We would just hang out during they day, have dinner together, go to the bars at night. Anyway, they vacation in Playa del Carmen every year which is just a short ferry ride from Cozumel. So we cancelled our planned excursion for that day and headed out with them to Playa del Carmen. We had a good day with them just relaxing on a beach.
Here is some other stuff from the cruise. The morning that we arrived in Jamaica, Alexis woke up with Pink Eye. Gross. If you have ever had or seen it, it's not pretty, if you have not had it or seen it, consider yourself lucky. I will not describe it, my eyes are watering just thinking about it. Alexis also got what seemed to be a heat rash, and we both got sinus infections while on the cruise. I can't believe anyone actually hung out with us. Other than that it was a pretty good trip. I don't know if we will do it again anytime soon though.
Other news.
Since Alexis and I have no desire to keep up with Daryl and Diana as far as having kids, we thought to ourselves, "What could we do that would take the attention away from them and put the spot light on us, even if it is just for a little while?" So not to be out done, here is what we came up with... We got another dog!! Yep, two dogs now. Ace and Steve, but you can call him Stevie, Steve-O, or really whatever, he is just a puppy, he has no idea what's going on. We bought him on Saturday. He is an English Bulldog. He is mostly brown with some white markings. He's small, bow-legged, and ugly. Alexis says he is cute. Ace seems to like him, by 'like him' I mean Ace has not eaten him for a snack...yet. We are hoping that he won't get much bigger than about 50 lbs, but that is not up to us. We have tons of pictures of him, but we have not posted them yet. You know how good we are about posting stuff.
We will be taking requests for things to teach him, just let us know. Like I said, we should be putting pictures of him up soon, maybe we can put up some cruise pictures too.
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