Fall 2018

This year I had the opportunity to go to Microsoft Ignite in Orlando. Out of everyone in the company they picked ten of us to go and report back what we learned. There was a lot of cool stuff there but I won't bore everyone with all the details. I'll just say AI, machine learning, and Microsoft's presence in the cloud are really picking up. This conference was a lot bigger than I was expecting. There were close to 35,000 people there in two huge buildings plus they took up the Hyatt conference rooms. I had scheduled presentations back to back and realized that some of them took me 45 minutes to get to so I missed out on a couple. When I got there Sunday night I got dropped off at the wrong hotel with my phone almost dead. I asked the guy to call me a cab and he was being a lazy turd and asked if I have Uber on my phone. I said screw this and walked luggage in hand to my hotel 1.4 miles down the road.

The second to last day there Microsoft closed Universal Orlando for the night and we got both parks to ourselves. All the food was free and they put out free beer on the tables that we could grab as we walk. They gave us all plastic bracelets when we got off the bus. I didn't realize til the next morning why. They were to let everyone know what bus to get back on at the end of the night and the girls standing in line in front of me definitely sounded like they needed theirs. We only had 4.5 hours in the park and it rained for an hour but I did get to see the Harry Potter land in both parks. I'm not the biggest fan of the rides there. I love roller coasters but the jerky 3D rides make my neck hurt and just aren't as exciting as a real roller coaster. Plus beer with 3D roller coasters isn't the best idea. I will say that Harry Potter land was pretty cool though especially with the fog and moon trying to shine through.

Of course before returning home I had to stop by Total Wine and pick up some Dominican Rums. I got my usual Barcelo Imperial, a new one Barcelo Imperial Onyx, and Brugal Extra Dry. All three survived the trip home. I probably walked a good 60 miles that week and when I got home my stomach started hurting. More about that below.


There were several large halls like this at the Orange County Convention center. It's the second biggest in the country behind Chicago.

What's better than a Stella? A free Stella.

I got a bunch of free stuff at Ignite. the kids loved the light sabers.

After Ignite the plan was to finish up my web development class at WGU. Things happened though and it didn't get done when I wanted to. I found out the first week in October that Adri had a half day the next day at school then a week off so we decided last minute to give my family a visit while I worked there for a week.I had been on the fence about going because everyone got sick that week and my hernia repair from 2015 had been hurting since I got back from Florida, plus I had a class to finish. We showed up for game night Friday night at my sister's house, did family dinner Saturday at Hibachi grill, another family dinner at my sister's Sunday, and planned our next trip. We went back home Thursday night after work and even leaving at 7:30 the traffic sucked all the way until the pass going up to Chirico. I got to bed at 2:30 Friday morning and when I took a nap that afternoon it felt like I got punched in the stomach. The hernia was getting worse. 

I got the kids Harry Potter tattoos in Florida. Here they are showing them off.

Cass and I at Hibachi grill.

Here is my dad ruining Dean's chance of ever running for office. 

The Saturday after we got back Zach had his first t-ball game. It's funny watching these kids because no one pays attention to the batter and then you have five kids all running for one ball. Zach is sensitive and when I tried telling him later at home that  he needs to pay attention he got all teary eyed.

It was 66 degrees a couple weeks and raining but the kids wanted to go swimming. Why not? The water is warmer than the air.

The week after I got back from Florida we got hit was the remnants of Hurricane Rosa. We got a few inches of rain from Rosa that week, followed by more random rain when we were in California and the night we got back, followed by Tropical Storm Sergio bringing in rain, and then just more random storms. In October we got more rain than we have had all year. The tenth wettest month in Phoenix on record and first wettest October. So a week ago I tried to go hunting and even though the rain had stopped the day before the wash that is always dry was still running. I was unable to find a way across and didn't find anything but a couple burros.

Can you see the two burros? In the middle of the picture in front of the bush. Their backs were as high as I am tall.

The hills between us and Lake Pleasant.

Lately it's been busy at work. Last week we had a customer come in from Chicago and they wanted to see the Cardinal's game. I really don't like the NFL but I went since it's a work function. Before the game I had to leave work early and stop at a doctor appointment for the hernia. I had an appointment scheduled earlier that week with another office and it was a disaster. Medical care in this country is going to hell in a hand basket. I called a general surgeon listed on the blue cross site, which doesn't list any of my local doctors for some reason, and I called this surgeon and confirm they do hernias. I show up and not only do they have me scheduled for the wrong person but it's a vascular surgeon that turned me away. After losing half my day over this stupid appointment I found a new surgeon and had to schedule in between work and the game. I ended up showing up at the game an hour before everyone else so I got an early start on chili cheese fries and beer.

About a week ago with Dean.

This last Sunday I went out for another hunt. My first stand was a bust. Second was a bust as well. On my third stand I called in a yote that came up on the bank. Problem is my call was between me and the yote and the yote was a little too far for me to take a confident shot. I thought if I wait it would come in closer but it took off. So I did a fourth stand that was another bust. On the way looking for my fifth stand I came across the third herd of javelina I had seen that day. I was trying to get a picture of a baby javelina and chased them into a wash. They took off and so I turned and headed the other direction. That's when I saw a coyote running along the wash about 55-65 yards out. It was upwind and I don't know if it realized I was there. I unloaded on it and it dropped behind a bush where I finished it off. Second one in under a month.

Sometime last week with Dean.

Wednesday was a sunny day until 4 in the afternoon. It started out with clouds above Daisy and Gavilan Peak and within an hour it was a full blown thunderstorm that with a little bit of hail. My yard was under an inch of water. I took Adri to the wash to see if it was flowing. There was some water in the wash but most of it was 150 yards from us where the wash drops another 20 feet. We did have some coyotes calling at us from the other side of the wash. As we were taking pictures a full rainbow came in and the entire sky, houses, and ground were glowing orange and pink from the sun hitting the mist.

Thursday when I went to check the mail I heard them calling again. Due to the fact I was having surgery the next day I couldn't resist a quick hunt to get me through the month. I thought I could get out there with an hour of daylight left and bag another so I threw on my camo and ran out the house right when work ended. I got down to my spot and my call wasn't working. I have no idea what is going on with it lately but I'm gonna have to fix it all before I can hunt again. I finally got to a spot where I used my screeming chicken call and there were several yotes calling all around me. I was still having trouble with my call though and couldn't get my rabbit calls to load. So I was distracted messing with the call and I had a bunch of coyotes calling all around me, about 75 yards out. I think I heard a few trying to get in behind me as well. I finally gave up with the call and decided to try and chase them out before it got dark. I had to walk through the water to get across the wash and when I got up the hill there was a coyote 75 yards out. I only had my 12 gauge. Had there been more light I may have tried to take a shot but I wasn't going to do it in the dark so I went home empty handed. The only thing I got was this picture showing off our green desert.

Yesterday I finally got this hernia handled. After dinner last night I took my last percocet and decided I'm just going to deal with the pain. I decided I don't need that crap, it makes me feel too sick. I really don't know how people can get addicted to that crap. So now I'm down for a couple weeks with nothing to do but work and try to get another class knocked out before Thanksgiving.