New Year. Day 2.

New Year’s Eve and New Years Day

We made it to midnight along with our friends. Midnight in California – not midnight in New York and then going to bed. If my desire was early to bed, I’d probably just ring in the new year with London. 4 pm I’d have been in bed. HaHa

Our good friends, Terri and Andy, had everyone over for drinks and appetizers and we welcomed our friends the McKee’s. Or as I call him on the golf course, The Doctor.

 

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Keith McKee and Myself

Andy brought out the good whiskey. I tried a new tactic this year. Just a couple of beers and stick with fireball. No NYE throwing up for me.

 

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Some of Andy’s good stuff….

I got home and went to bed. Home by 1 am and slept in until about 6:30 AM. Some of us weren’t so lucky that evening though…

 

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Conversation with the Doctor…

 

That brings us to New Year’s Day. My wife and I had this crazy idea that she wanted to go to the gym. So we made the way and accomplished that. Of course is it was crazy busy. Lots of people getting in their NY’s resolutions – that may last for about thirty days. I’m giving people about two weeks.

On a different note, Keith’s daughter, Kate, finally started watching the Star Wars movies. A 21 year old that hasn’t watched the original trilogy – I didn’t think that existed in this generation.

 

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Kate and Keith’s wife, Cindi (Possibly misspelled)

Now back to New Years. We decided to hit up Parkway Mall. I absolutely dislike that mall. It’s not so much the stores as it’s just the type of customers that they get. It seems whenever you get a Walmart that opens in your mall, Boom all the white trash come out of the woodwork. I was there for a particularly different reason. My wife gave me a nice Citizen watch that needed some work. The calendar system didn’t work with leap years but the clock and look of the watch was very eye pleasing. So it was time to take it to the repair shop. Aren’t you a technology guy? Yes – definitely. My choice is definitely the Apple Watch. It offers so much to your daily life.

Week coming up….

Golf with the guys on Tuesday. First Wednesday Tournament on Wednesday. I see my daughter this coming Saturday. Geez – I can’t believe she’s turning 9 this month. She’s coming into her own so well and developing into such a good kid. I’m definitely a proud dad.

I’m thinking of hitting up the gym but I’m debating what time will be the least hell like. Geez. So many people going. I’d almost be better just to wake up at 1 am and then go. Hey I said – almost – not that it’s happening.

 

 

 

thetechguychris

Last Few Days

Last few days I’ve been busy setting up a new system in the house. We replaced all the bulbs in our house with the Phillips Hue system. Mainly I chose that system because it works with both Siri and my Amazon Echo. It took a bit of figuring a few things out but now it works marvelously.

Simply wake up and say ,”Turn on Office Lights.” Boom – it’s done. Also I can set routines so that at 6 am the lights are already on. Very helpful.

Golf with my buddies Pete and Gary this morning was fun. I couldn’t hit a cut to save my life today. Draw yes! 5 yard draw. No problem. Cut?! Nope. Starting way out right and not cutting. Have to work on more solid contact and starting the ball on line. I had to bail after nine today because I wanted to get home, shower, eat, and then drive up to see my daughter. She’s on the school choir and tonight was their Christmas event. She’s growing up so fast in front of my eyes that I cannot believe that soon she’s going to be nine. I really wish my mom would have met her. Or for that matter my dad.

Christmas is four days away or by the time that I post this – just three days. Hard to believe that it’s upon us already.

Data. I saved my butt again. I’m a firm believer in the three backups. One local, One in the cloud, and one off-site. I have an encrypted backup on a flash drive in my car, encrypted off-site, and encrypted local. Three copies or you don’t really have a copy at all.

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My step-son Tommy has been home for less than two days from college and on his second day, he’s already sleeping until 11:30 AM. Well, that didn’t take long.  Madness! Madness I tell you. I can’t even remember sleeping until 9 am of recent.

 

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First new Bladerunner Trailer, New Wonder Woman Photo, and more

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Time Magazine had a good article discussing the movie that is 75 years in the making. Article is here. I think the director/movie is going in a good direction based on the existing trailer that I’ve seen. I can’t wait to see it. During Time Magazine’s interview with Gal Gadot they took this photo above with the iconic bracelets.

They’re making a new Bladerunner with Harrison Ford. The last Bladerunner was rather iconic and told the story of a detective who’s job it was to hunt down four replicants who had stolen a ship and returned to earth to try and find their creator. I still can’t believe that movie came out in 1982.

Here is the trailer for the new film that is due out in 2017.

My friend Terri is in the hospital recovering today. I’m hoping for a speedy recovery so she can be home and enjoy the holidays. Here’s a picture of all of us celebrating her birthday.

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thetechguychris

Six Days Until Christmas 2016

The last two days have been a bit crazy. I think that’s being generous. Yesterday we were supposed to go and see this movie ‘Manchester by the Sea’ which I really wanted to see but my wife talked me into postponing it until Friday. Bummer!

 

Today I got out for some afternoon golf with buddies Doug and Keith.  The golf course is in excellent shape and we’ll see how it is after two weeks of tournament play. Fingers crossed. Halfway decent for about seven of the holes. Argh! The other two though.

I ran across this today and it made me laugh. So hence I’m sharing it with you now. Enjoy!

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thetechguychris

Best Time with Daughter, New Spiderman Trailer, and New Golf Local Rule

My day. It started off with some writing on my website. Then it was time to get the ball rolling and drive up to see my daughter. It’s so enjoyable to see her becoming her own individual person with such spunk and zest. We started off with some soccer fun and she wanted me to try to score on her. After the first few, she kept telling me to back up nearly to halfway down the field. Then we did some Star Wars trivia, Gilmore Girls trivia (which I’m not up on), and then it’s off to get some yogurt and look at the bookstore.

Off to the drive home and I couldn’t believe Waze was having me go in directions I had never heard of. Three toll roads and I was home in two hours in the middle of rush hour traffic. Amazing.

Come home and I see the new Spiderman trailer is out. Look quite good.

Turn on the tube and I see Kayleigh McEnany. She drives me straight up a wall. The constant attitude. It gets old. So I particularly enjoyed this discussion.

Now onto some golf. 

It’s about time we had this rule on the books. Finally,  you can just place it back where it was without penalty. If the wind or the slope takes it, you play it where it lies. Just so we all understand.

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thetechguychris

Powerbeats 3, Golf, and More

I started the morning knowing that I had a 6:51 tee time looming. Argh! Too early. Yesterday was a tough day as I kept on thinking of my mother. Thirteen years ago, I said goodbye and I wish I could say it got easier. It hasn’t. Some days it hits me so vividly in my mind and the heart of my heart comes right back. I think that’s why it bothers me, to some extent, when I see my step-kids talk to their mother in a disrespectful manner. They don’t realize how lucky they are to have their mother around today. They can talk and enjoy moments with her. My time is done with that and all I have is just memories. I so wish I had taken more advantage of things and talked more with her. Value people – for you never know when they’ll be gone.

Back to the golf course. I arrived this morning at 6:15 AM ready to warm up and get ready. Nope. Frost delay until 7:45 am. Time for a cup of joe and to wake my butt up more. Some golf with Gary, Keith, and Paul and a good time was had. Didn’t play horrible but didn’t play great either. Too many loose irons and my chipping was horrible. I don’t think I got one ball up and down. Definitely need to work on that. Side note: Sycuan is looking in amazing condition.

Headphones. I use them a lot. So I try a lot of headphones out. I use pairs for the gym and pairs for when I am just listening at home. But the “On the Move” headphones are of most value to me. My two favorite pairs are the Beats Powerbeats 3 and the Bose Soundsport.

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Both are Bluetooth only and work wonderfully with the IPhone 7. My only slight knock on the Bose Soundsport and sometimes why I prefer the Powerbeats 3 is Powerbeats have a hook behind them to keep them from sliding out while you run.

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I do really like the quick charge option of the headphones. One hour after 5 minutes – you’re not going to beat that.

We’re heading to my friend Terri’s tonight for drinks and dinner. It should be a fun time. Especially as they have my favorite beer ‘Willy Vanilly’.

Lauren is enjoying Pittsburgh. Happy to see that she is. I’ve only been there once and I just remember thinking that I enjoyed Ohio and New York much better.

Well I’m getting the stink-eye from my wife which means that it’s time to get my act together and start getting ready for the evening. Signing off for now…

thetechguychris

Post Thanksgiving, Top Golf, Karaoke, and Back Home

Woke up in the morning to another excellent breakfast by Sharon McKinney. Thanks for all the breakfasts. It’s a rarity that I find someone that is usually up when I get up in the morning. But each morning I’d walk in and see Sharon and Mike awake and ready for some light morning conversation. Two hours later we went to Top Golf.

Top Golf was quite the experience. It’s more about a golfing game then an actual driving range. Some moderately serious flight restricted balls and you’re definitely not feeling the same as you would on a normal golf course. It’s a bit odd that they won’t allow you to use your own fairway woods but irons they will. My guess is there is something to the woods they provide – flight restricted woods. I didn’t get a chance to try it at night but it looks like fun just like it was during the day. Our group partook in food, beer, and about two hours of golf. Then we hung out a bit in an entertainment room of sorts. Lots of fun with Xbox’s loaded with games for just about any age range. Glad to see Jimmy (pictured below) taking up golf.

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The Boys before we started at Top Golf

After Top Golf we went home and watched some of the Ohio State and Michigan game. Go Buckeyes! Jim Harbaugh needs to suck it up and stop being so whiney.

If he had controlled himself better he wouldn’t have given the Buckeyes prime scoring circumstances with his “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” as seen below.

Then it was time for the evening to take off. We were out celebrating Lauren’s Masters Degree from the University of College London. What an achievement! Hard working pays off.

img_8763We had an excellent dinner at an Italian Restaurant at Tommy V’s which the owner heard Lauren was celebrating and gave us a free bottle of champaign. In actuality, our waitress must have told the owner that not all of our food came out at the same time and it’s the sign of a good restaurant that the owner cares about the customer experience. Also I’ve realized that I’ve quite taken to the ‘Rum and Coke’

Then we headed out to a nice Mexican place which for the life of me I cannot remember the name of. Whole group photo below. What a fun group.

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Whole fun group. Man I need to diet.

Next up was some Karaoke. A little about me. I can’t stand Karaoke. Mainly because I’m constantly judging it compared to the original. I used to go a very upscale bar in NYC where occasionally you’d get some excellent singers that gave the originals a run for their money. This wasn’t happening tonight. But seeing friends and family – friends that I consider family – doing it with such a fun zest made it barable. And on a side note, if I didn’t have to drive for five hours the next morning I’d probably have been drinking more and hence enjoy more of it. So if I looked like a stick in the mudd – I actually was a stick in the mudd. HaHa

Here’s Lauren and Casey singing and also notice the hilarious guy that shows up mid-way thru the video.

 

Drive home went smoothly. Five hours and hit hardly any traffic. First time ever driving an Infinity QX80. Big car. But a very smooth drive.

Rogue One Tickets just went on sale. Not quite the high demand that Episode 7: Force Awakens had. Still managed to snag a pair of them for my step-son and I.

 

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Thanksgiving and Day After

Thanksgiving was the usual insane goodness. Friends, joking, laughter, and some beers being broken on Jimmy’s head. This isn’t a tradition but maybe it might become one. Who knows?!?

Started the day off with Sharon making some excellent breakfast for everybody. Then it was time to get the day drinking  started. I had originally said I wasn’t going to do any hard alcohol….well that only lasted about about two hours before the Irish Car bombs were out.

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Lauren and Kaitlyn

It’s nice to have Lauren here for the holidays. The last two she has been in Europe/Overseas and it’s always difficult on my wife having part of her family away. I’m always glad when my wife is happy to have her family united. I imagine she’ll be even more excited when Christmas rolls around and hopefully she has all of her kids together.

Below is a nice fun video of our arrival and Jimmy joking with Lauren about how she can’t survive on no-alcohol for three days.

How do you get thru the day without alcohol? #McKinneyFamilyFun #arrival

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Ok back to Thanksgiving. After eating such a wonderful Turkey, stuffing, and just about everything you can think of I was feeling very thankful for having everyone around. I was just having a sentimental moment at one point and was just having a flood of emotions coming over me with thoughts of my daughter, mom, dad, and Thanksgivings past. This was bound to happen sooner or later with me – I expected it. Then my wife snuck up on me and it was photo time. So hence the look below.

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Thank you Sharon and Mike for putting on such an excellent Thanksgiving and making it always enjoyable.

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Onto Black Friday.

Jimmy was wanting to get a set of golf clubs. I have an old set that I was trying to get rid of so I offered to ship him mine. I’m more than happy to help get anyone started into golf. So we went to a store called ‘2nd Swing Golf’ and picked him up a used driver, 3 wood, hybrid, and putter. He’s all set and from the sounds of it he has a friend that is a top-semi-professional at ASU and is kind of taking him under his wing and giving him some lessons. Maybe the next time Jimmy is out here – I’ll introduce him to my instructor Bob Madsen and he can have a playing lesson with Jimmy.

Then off to lunch for a few beers. I had never been to this place called ‘Twin Peaks’. I guess one of the owners-sons of Hooters wasn’t happy with the way the ladies were treated so he decided to go off and make his own restaurant. Still the same scantily clad ladies but a much better restaurant as a whole.

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Lets just say I definitely enjoyed the beer.

Today we’re off to TopGolf. Which I’ve never been to so this will be interesting. I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving. I’m very thankful that I get to spend these holidays with my lovely wife.

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thetechguychris

Thanksgiving. The First Tough One

Thanksgiving for me has gone from something that I took for granted to something that I cherish more in my older years. My younger years with my mom and dad were one’s of us all gathering. The typical fire place roaring, football on in the living room tv, and my father, Chet, carving the turkey. All of my younger year Thanksgivings were in the mid-west so the climate was much colder and often snow. So when I now have Thanksgivings with temperatures of sixty degrees – it feels out of place to me.

I’ve since lost both of my parents and the holidays are always a tough time. I didn’t have any holiday memories of my older years with my dad which is a real shame. So much we could have talked about. So much we could have worked past. So much I could have taken responsibility for. Never the opportunity. My mom, however, I was with on her last Thanksgiving in hospice care and I remember watching ‘The West Wing’ with her. I remember her making a rebound and her body feeling better and her spirits getting higher. I thought she was going to make it all the way thru New Year’s Eve or maybe into summer. Turns out my optimism was misguided and she lasted until that first week of December. So much I wish I had said.

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So Thanksgiving comes around and it’s the first of my very rough holidays. It’s the first that reminds me that my parents are gone. So below I’ll post one of my favorite West Wing clips. Mom: I miss you and I’m watching thinking of you.

Be thankful of those around you. Enjoy the time around them. Cherish the moments. For you really never know how long they’ll be around.

 

thetechguychris