I have made changes to the RSS feed for this site.

The main change is the ability to read the entire entry from the feed itself (full post) instead of excerpts. It will still show the last 10 entries but will have the posts in their entirety.

I have also added CDATA to the feed, so it will be slightly formatted (paragraphs, images, etc.).

Just some slight improvements to help the folks who visit the site through a feed-reader.

After eight months of working at Software Architects I have decided to resign and take a position at Meridium, Inc. as a Technical Consultant.

Working for Sark has been a learning experience and because of that I have come to the realization that I do not want to program for the rest of my life. The position at Meridium is a great opportunity for travel and learning about management.

What this means is that I will be moving to Houston, TX in the next couple of weeks to begin my new job. I hope to keep blogging, especially about the travel.

You know that feeling, when you are nervous but still want to do something? That is me when I go to get a haircut.

Haircuts are a huge risk. The barber can cut your hair too short, accidentally slip and cut higher on the sides, or in an attempt to fix something, completely screw up what you were hoping for.

But the haircut industry is one of those where you still have to pay the person, even if they make it worse or do not do what you want. There are no “do overs” but you still have to pay. At least when you go to a mechanic if they break something while working on your car they will go back and fix it. It turns the whole barbershop industry into a gamble.

The other downside is when you go to a chain place and the person that you usually have is cutting someone else’s hair, then you feel bad for the person who is ready to help you. It is like saying “you aren’t good enough” to them so I usually cave and let them try their hand on me.

I think they should give out redemption cards when they screw something up or when you are not satisfied with your haircut. It would make things a lot easier.

She’s been with me since the beginning of college in 2002. We’ve looked at websites, listened to music, and checked e-mail together but it looks like her time is now limited.

I am talking about my desktop PC of course…

This morning I flipped on the power and checked some e-mail and realized that the clock on the machine was 20 minutes behind and that the machine would hang every few seconds while doing something. I know she’s on her last leg, and there is probably a few upgrades I could do to make her hang on a little longer, but I use my laptop so much more now that I am not sure it’s worth it.

I am going to start migrating things off of her and backing them up, just in case she decides to go today.

I was in Roanoke, Virginia the last couple of days and arrived back in Dallas yesterday evening (thank you very much US Airways).

It really is a beautiful town, with “mountains” entirely surrounding it. The city itself reminded me of the mining town out of October Sky though it seems to have made a transformation to an urban area.

I stayed at the wonderful Hotel Roanoke which sits in an historic building and is where they hold the Miss Virginia Pageant.

All-in-all it was a good trip, minus the fact that US Airways did not have a single flight that was on time my entire trip and they proceeded to blame ATC for the delays… Yeah, nice try US Airways…

Walking into the dry cleaners yesterday evening, I expected to leave within five minutes with the laundry that I left there that morning. Though it took more like 15 minutes to get my clothes, I had time to observe something that I had never noticed before.

In the cleaners with me were three other men, all mid-20’s to mid-40’s. All three were looking down at their cellphones, texting or reading a text message. I do not know if it was meant to make them look “cooler” as they stood there to pick up their laundry or if it was something to help them avoid awkwardly standing there in silence looking at each other.

Honestly, I think using a cell phone in a public place is rude, period, but that’s just me. I have answered my phone in a store and restaurant before but I usually excuse myself from the table or try to make my conversation as short as possible. Since when did it become socially acceptable to isolate yourself from the people standing next to you by operating your cell phone?

Today marks the 65^th anniversary of the day that will live in infamy.

Take a little time out of your day today and tell a veteran “Thank You”.

I was in Lubbock yesterday speaking to the Texas Tech University chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, a business fraternity for students.

It was a good trip with a lot of questions asked by graduating students about the “real world” and what to expect. Some of the questions I had answers to, others I am still learning myself.

I am pretty tired from getting in super early this morning and will probably crash early tonight… Gotta love traveling.

I will be attending SXSW Interactive this year before heading to Boston for a vacation.

I was going through the panel list and there looks to be some really interesting ones planned. Hopefully I will get to meet a few people that I converse with regularly online (you know who you are) and talk in person.

See y’all in Austin.

I am back in Dallas after a refreshing Thanksgiving with my family in Sugar Land.

There is a lot on my mind regarding a few different issues and I want to wait until I am really back into the groove of work before I address them. Right now I am extremely busy at work (rarity) trying to push out a demo but being forced to use technology I neither understand nor enjoy. So I want to wait until I am under a little less stress to write some of these things out. I may just set some time aside one evening this week just to get everything on paper and try to post from an “outline”.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!