July 21

So I'm currently stuck in the LAX airport with a four layover before our flight to Hawaii. I'm not real big on layovers...I usually always fly standby on the next flight out (one of my favorite benefits of an airline employee).

Sam & I have been really busy so I'd like to fill you in on the last few weeks.

We've both become better at the wakeboard. Sam takes lots of video of our wicked tricks so I'll try to post them soon. Most weekends we head out to my parent's lakehouse after work on Friday and then head back home on Sunday evening. We've become regular visitors to the Azle Church of Christ.

Last weekend we had a great time in Chicago with Sam's cousin Carrie and her husband Wes. On Saturday morning, Carrie and I headed to the Miracle Mile for a visit to our favorite store H&M. After about an hour and a half later we left with full shopping bags and a somewhat frustrated Sam. Following H&M...we made our way on the L to Wrigleyville. This was the first visit for myself, Sam and Wes. WOW! There are few things I appreciate more than a passionate sports fan and the Cubbie Fans are passionate. It was a great day and SO much fun. Plus the Cubbies won!!

Following the game we met up with Sam's college friend Preston and his wife. It was great to see them. Sam wanted to eat Mexician food in Chicago (remember we traveled from Texas to Chicago...to eat Mexician?). Anyway...following dinner we enjoyed laughs at Second City. Second City is known as the comedy university and many great comics get their start at Second City. The 11:00pm show was hard for us to stay awake but our laughter kept us awake.

I have some great pictures to post but I'm on my little brother's laptop so I'll have to post another time.

I'm about to board a flight for Hawaii. We are all excited to meet up with Chad. (We are meeting in Hawaii since it is somewhat a half-way point between Dallas and Japan.) We'll be on the island of Kauai. We've never been to this island before so we are excited to explore.

One more quick note...any one buy the Deathly Hollows book? Funny thing...like half the plane has the book. I will admit that I bought it...I became addicated to Harry thanks to my college roommate Laurie. I've read the other six and I'm anxious to find out the ending to the story. (I haven't finished yet so don't tell me.)

Digital Pictures

Don't you all just love the convience of digital photography? You take all the pictures you want. Only print the ones you need. You can also reprint later, right?

Well my good friend's Adam and Doodle had a computer crash and they have lost very valuable pictures. (They are currently searching for help recovering information from a hard drive...if you know anyone let me know.) Which reminded me to back up my pictures. I lost all the pictures from my personal camera from my wedding and honeymoon...thanks to a computer virus.

I thought I'd share my tips for backing up information including pictures. I have an external hard drive which is connected desktop computer. I save all important documents including pictures on both. So how do I compare and make sure that the same information is on both? Good Sync. It is an awesome little program. It looks at two folders and analyzes them. Following the analyzation it will tell you which files are missing from each folder. Then you can chose to synchronize. It will then copy the missing files from both folders so both folders will contain all the information. The best news...it is free! For a large number of files, it will cost you but after the first synchronization...your files will be much smaller.

Any other tips for backing up and/or protecting information?

Bikram Yoga - Hot Yoga

So my dad has recently started the practice of Hot Yoga. He just raves about it...so I figured I would try. For those who haven't heard of Bikram/Hot Yoga...I'll explain. The room is heated to 105 degrees. Then for the next 90 minutes, you work your way through 26 asana (postures).

So I've practiced Yoga at a few different fitness locations but this was intense. Honestly about twenty minutes into it, I sat down and tried to find a way to duck out. (They lock the outer doors once the class starts...to protect everyone's personal stuff. So if I left the hot room, I would have been waiting by myself for the next hour until they unlock the door.) I was sitting down because my head was spinning and I was seeing spots. So after what felt like twenty minutes (they don't have a clock on the wall and I didn't bring a watch) of sitting down...I got back up and actually got really into it. The next hour or so was much better.

So in the end I bought eleven additional visits. I'm not sure I can keep up with my dad...but I'm going to try for at least the next eleven visits. I highly encourage everyone to try it...at least for the experience.