It’s a baby.

So, I haven’t been exactly present in the last while. While I totally don’t have any excuse for being gone as long as I have been gone (other than it being busy season and I really have been pretty exhausted every day when I get home), I will provide an incredible post for those of you who haven’t seen our the Facebook update from me or my wifey, I’ll show you a picture:

Meet the peach. The peach growing inside of my wife’s uterus. That’s right, I’m going to be a father. Some little baby is going to have to think I know what the heck I’m talking about and is going to listen to me (for awhile, at least.). We are incredibly excited/nervous/thrilled/frightened/joyous to have this great blessing come into our lives. We aren’t sure what the gender is yet (That’s for January) but we do know that he’ll be joining the Gamblin clan around the month of June in the year 2010.

Obviously, there will be plenty of updates regarding our ever-growing peach in the near future. For the meantime, here’s a few more morsels of information:

• We’re moving tomorrow. We’ll be moving to a new apartment here in San Jose, just a little further south. It’s a much larger 2-bedroom home that will help us get ready for the little one.
• I’ve been working a lot recently, but things are going well. I’m excited to see that busy season is going to be over in a few days.
• I’ll be heading to Christmas vacation on Wednesday of next week, and I’ll get to escape until January 4th. It’ll be a great break.
• We recently travelled to SF for a great meal at Scoma’s and to celebrate my wife’s grandparents’ 50th anniversary. It was nifty. And Lindsay made the most amazing German Chocolate cake with a custom magnolia flower. Hopefully she’ll blog it soon. It was delicious and beautiful.
• We also celebrated our anniversary with a fantastic trip to the Sonoma coast. We got some gorgeous pictures. I’ll show a few here. It’s been an amazing year, and I have to say that I picked the perfect person to share my life with!

We are seriously blessed and I’m so excited to be a daddy. Look for more continuous updates here soon.

Leave your message after the break.

Guest Post ... Starring The Trophy Wife!

Hey everyone. I know I took about a month off. Bad choice. My mom recently was telling me that she needed me to post. Therefore, she offered to do a guest post. As most of you know, my mom has her own personal blog where she shares her unique perspective on everything in the world. Seriously, it's a good blog. She posts daily and it's a very recommended read.

I promise I'll come back ... I promise. In the meantime, however, enjoy the mind of my mom. And please, continue to read her blog. I promise you won't regret it. Here goes!

So, here’s the deal. Matthew Gamblin thinks his life is boring. That’s probably true, but that is no excuse for his lack of posts as of late. Matt needs to understand that blogging is not about excitement. No. Blogging is a state of mind.

My mind, usually.

Hence, the guest post idea is born.

As Matt’s mother, I have some unique and most importantly, correct, insights into how Matt Gamblin became the man he is today. I would like to share some of those early occasions when, I knew without a doubt, that this child was destined for great things. In no particular order, let us begin:

Matt was thrown from a horse when he was two, requiring a visit to the emergency room. Never mind that the horse in question was red and required a quarter to be placed in its slot before the incident occurred. Those details don’t really matter. The point is: Matt handled it well. Actually, he had to be sedated and placed in a papoose-straightjacket-thingy.

Note: Okay, that wasn’t the best example. Let us continue.

One beautiful summer day at Lake Shasta, the family boat exploded. Seriously. The engine starts, sputtering noises are made, flames roar and dudes in fancy noisy ski boats skid around the now-sad family boat, dousing the flames with their hot-dogging. Matt remembers every moment of this frightening day. He swears he remembers. Except, however, for the small fact that it happened before he was born. The point is: I apologize. There is no point.

I went to the Homecoming Dance with Matt. Now, before you get all weirded out, I wasn’t his date, thank you very much. I was his State-of-California-Can’t-Drive-Without-An-Adult in the car Whatnot. Fear not, however. I was discreet. I lay down on the backseat floor of the Firebird (which, I believe, was still purple at the time) and he picked up his date and drove to the dance. Quiet as a little mouse, I was. Then I drove home and returned later, parking the car in the same spot and hiding on the floorboard. Discreetly. Again.

Note: I admit that I may have peeked out the window when he walked his date to the front door. Maybe.

But that’s not the point. The point is: Best obey the law, Dude.

Matt loved the A’s, back in the powerhouse, juiced-up Bash Brother good-old-days. It is 1989. Matt sits through a four-hour game and the A’s are throttling whomever and it’s like 27-5. Or something. Seriously. The game is rebroadcast two hours later. Matt watches it again, doing a play-by-play. Matt, it’s time for dinner, I say. Not now, Mom, he answers, Walt Weiss is going to hit a homerun in a minute! The point: You may choose the point. Either a) Matt is a genius with an amazing memory or b) Matt is a little on the obsessive side.

There are many more instances to share. Oh yes. It takes decades to produce a twenty-six year old. Two and half, to be exact. And as The Mother, I can assure you that the point is: Sons don’t get any better than this one.

Note: But then again, I only have one son, so it’s hard to be sure.

Time for some fun!

So, my life isn’t all that incredibly fascinating. Aside from the work, my wife’s amazing treats; doing some graphic design for my wife’s site; planning stuff for my mom’s site, which will hopefully soon be launching completely on diannegamblin.com (more on that to come in the future); going out shopping with my wife; and taking pictures with my brand new camera my life has been pretty chock full of entertainment. So I just want to provide a little insight into my life:

• I went to the emergency room at the Kaiser Santa Clara Homestead facility in Santa Clara, CA on Wednesday morning at 3 a.m. I woke up to an extreme pain in my lower right side of my abdomen, and finally went to the ER at about 3. It turned out to be my 3rd kidney stone in the last few years. I got some wonderful pain killers, a CT scan, an EKG and 2.5 hours in the ER. I got pain killers very quickly (from what my wife told me) and was treated right away. All this for a small co pay. I do love my health insurance. Note: I am now the number one producer of kidney stones in my complete extended family. I have another 3 in there, according to my CT scan. So get ready for some more kidney-related fun!
• I will be going to Salt Lake City, Utah on Monday for an engagement for work. I’ll be there for 4 days and get to spend some time with my sister and possibly catch a haunted forest or house or something fun like that. My sister and I are the only ones willing to go check those out these days.
• We love our camera. Check out some pictures.

    

I do love picture taking. I found this quote from Elliott Erwin on a website:

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

You can also check out my wife’s blog for some more pictures. I do all of her food pics!

I hope everyone is doing wonderfully out in the blog world. Remember to leave me a comment and let me know you were here! Until next time.

I Finally Got It!

What is it? It is the Canon Rebel T1i, or 500D for those in the UK (though I don’t have any readers across the pond). It’s my birthday present, and something I’ve been waiting on for some time. I’m so excited to have the camera and look forward to using it to take many different pictures. I also got the Canon EF-S 55-200 mm IS telephoto zoom lens to go with it. I additionally got a great camera bag to go with it. Both the lens and the bag came from my parents. It’s so exciting to me to have the camera and be able to take some great pictures. I’m a nerd, as those who read this site are fully aware, and that extends to things beyond just computers. I really do enjoy photography, as some might have noticed, and I am so grateful to have something that can grow with me and help to take even more fantastic photos. It’s amazing. I’ll share some examples here, but first let me give you a quick review of the camera.

Note: All photos of the body and buttons are from DPReview. It’s the BEST camera review site. However, all sample photos were taken by me!

Handling

The camera is a large camera, as most are aware. The dSLR systems are typically larger, and feature large screens on the back and weight significantly more than any point and shoot that you can purchase. That’s why the gadget bag was so important for me.

However, handling is about how it feels in the hands, and how the  buttons are laid out. The camera has a fantastic screen on the back which is where you primarily find the details of the settings and the potential to review your photos after being taken. The buttons are satisfying, and within reach. Also, my hands aren’t huge and  therefore it fits nicely in my hands.

Features

Getting top billing on this camera is the inclusion of a HD video mode. It includes 720p video capture at 30fps, or frames per second, (which is about half of what the human eye sees, but what a smooth video typically will run at) and 1080p video at 24fps. It makes the 1080p video mode a little less attractive, as some choppiness is evident. Also, the autofocus in the video mode is slow. Therefore, it’s not quite as amazing as it sounds. However, it looks FANTASTIC when shooting video. You you just have to focus before you start taking the video, pan slowly, and not have something moving back and forth toward the camera. Otherwise it’s great.

Additionally, it features 3.5 frames per second shooting with unlimited frames shooting in jpg mode, great color reproduction, 15.1 megapixels, RAW capable, DIGIC 4 processor, and support for high capacity SD cards. It’s really a wonderful feature set, and more than worth the entry cost.

Picture Quality

After all, it’s all about the pictures in the end. The picture quality is seriously amazing. Stepping up from a point-and-shoot camera, the detail and color reproduction is outstanding. Being able to focus close in, blur backgrounds, open my shutter speed and do all kinds of other amazing things that simply can’t be done with other cameras blows my mind. If you don’t believe me, check out the photos:

There are plenty more photos coming later, but that’s just a smattering of some of my favorites. Check out my Facebook page or a new page that I’ll be making on Flickr. I’ll update that later.

Conclusion: An AMAZING camera for an entry level photographer. It’s expensive, but ever so worth it. If you love photography and want to step up, it’s a great value proposition and won’t let you down.

What do you guys think? Know of any good photography spots around San Jose? And hey, I’m willing to take pictures for anyone that would like some pictures!

Birthday Commentary

Hello out there.

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog recently. I've been in Austin, TX For the last three weeks. That's right, almost a month sitting out there in Texas for an audit. It was a good experience. Worked with a lot of great people, learned a lot about the audit process, and feel better. However, after a 3.5 hour wait sitting on the plane which was sitting on the tarmac, a sprint to make my connection, and a 3 hour flight home, I now can blog from the comfort of my living room and sleep in my own bed. It's so nice to be home, and I'm glad that I have the chance to be in California. Texas was not a bad place, but it just isn't for me. Crazy thunderstorms including rain out of nowhere; 70 days over 100 degrees with 75% humidity and plenty of more features make me happy to be in San Jose, CA.

Anyway, it's been a good day so far. I woke up early (I'm still on Texas time) and turned on the A's game. It's been good. I know my wife has plenty more planned for the rest of the day, and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what's going on, but that makes it all the more exciting.

I know that my birthday present is the Canon T1i. I don't know how many of you know, but I'm an avid photographer. I love taking pictures. It's really just a good outlet for the creativity that I have flowing through my blood. I'm not an artsy person, but I have a prett good eye for photos. So, I'm super excited to get my DSLR and learn how to take even better pictures. I can't wait to take food pictures for my wife, who has a new blog, and help to make her a famous goody-making woman. Trust me, her treats are well worth it. And I look forward to taking pictures of people, scenery, and all kinds of other things. It's exciting to me to be able to afford something like the camera and enjoy it. I can't wait ... but I have to wait a few more days.

Other than that, I don't know much, but I'm excited to find out.

Anyway, I'll leave you all with some fantastic photos of my trip to Austin, and hope that everyone is doing well. I have some tech news to run over soon. Lots of stuff has been happening, and I'd like to opine. So, sorry, but you get some tech posts coming soon!

Here are some pics:

Lindsay's b-day dinner at The Melting Pot in Austin, TX.

Our dessert at The Melting Pot.
My wife at the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Museum at the University of Texas. We had lots of fun.
Museum Again. Just taking a pic together.

A picture my wife took at the Texas State Capital.

My wife amazed at the huge McKinney Falls at McKinney State Park. Yes, that's supposed to be a waterfall. I guess there's a drought. Sad.

Just about to drop my wife off at the airport so she can head home. Yes, I do look terrible.

Drop me a line and let me know you were here. See you all soon.

WE'RE GOING TO WICKED TOMORROW!

We're super, super excited.

That is all.

Children ...

Hello fond blogging world.

I know that I have launched a particularly long absence on my poor reading public recently. While that may be a very small minority of individuals in this world, I have been getting a few requests to get something out there to provide a few minutes of entertainment to those who happen to occupy some work moments with reading my little blog. So, here I am. Saturday night. Looking over some stuff on my wife's computer and looking at the house. The house has three little specialty beds set up in various parts of the living room. We have cupcakes in the oven. I'm a touch sunburned from being outside at the park today. I'm exhausted, but not because I've been doing anything particularly strenuous. Nope. I'm just babysitting. Now, some of you may not take pity on my lovely wife and me for a simple matter like babysitting. Some may scoff and think that it can't possibly be that tiring. You, my dear reader, would be wrong. Going from no children to 3 overnight is nothing to laugh at. Obtaining children that are 8, 7 and 5 overnight ... that is a lot harder than it might sound.

So we've spent the day at the park, trying to pick out a game at Target, and watching more episodes of The Legend of Zelda TV show than I ever thought I would see in my life. I ate frozen french fries and chicken nuggets last night, something I haven't done since my days as a college bachelor. Our life has been flipped on its head, as we go to bed at 9:00, beat from the day of keeping siblings from attacking and punishing each other for being on their side of the seat in the car. We've averted near disastrous cheating at hide-and-go-seek, and managed to entertain and impress with our small, but useful 1-bedroom living space.

It's been a crazy weekend so far, and there are still two more days to go.

I think we might have found the best form of birth control.

Opportunities

#1: Yesterday, I received a phone call from a co worker and friend that I worked with for the first 2 months of my job. She called me to ask if I wanted to come back and work on a client with her in San Francisco. The opportunity would actually be to come work with her on a lot of her clients as the advisory staff who work on those clients all tend to move between them. They are a lot of advisory clients within the SF bay area. I was surprised to hear from her. It was really a fantastic opportunity and one that took a lot of thought and analysis. The clients that she has provide the opportunity for potential international travel to Germany, England, France and other countries. It is the opportunity to do real advisory work, including internal audit and data analytics opportunities that are potentially in the pipeline. It's exciting. I decided to take advantage of it, and will be moving most of my time to work exclusively for this partner and the team. It's very exciting and I'm looking forward to being able to work with this team. It'll mean more responsibility and potentialy some demanding projects. But that, my friends, is what I need out of my work.

#2: I recently had the opportunity to drive into San Francisco again. It reminds me of how beautiful and fantastic it is to live in the SF bay area. Living just 45 minutes south of a famous city, having a job, and being able to call this fantastic weather my home is yet another wonderful thing.

#3: I recently had the opportunity to apend the weekend with my wife at my parent's house. We were actually alone, as my parents had taken residence at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas (in a 1400 sq. ft. suite, but that's another story) so we adopted their home and took care of Rubi for a couple days. We heated up the pool, went for a swim, laid out (Lindsay has the burns to prove it), ate at Tex Wasabi's. I got the smoked pork ribs, and Linds got the "hulk" sushi roll. Yup. Southern barbeque and sushi. It's Guy Fieri's restaurant, and it's wonderful. If you find yourself in Santa Rosa, check it out.

Just remember, if you have opportunities in this life, no matter how small (#2), how large (#1), or how fun (#3), take advantage of all of them. Life's wonderful. It's hard sometimes, but it will all make sense in the end.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the "Not-so-Lame"

Time for a movie review. And this is one that I've been looking forward to all summer. Well, even all year: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. That's right. The blockbuster sequel to one of the more fun movies of a couple years ago has arrived and it stormed into theaters. It's riding very low on Rotten Tomatoes right now (20% Fresh), but what do the laymen think of the movie? Being one of those every day people, I'd like to throw in my two cents. I'm going to try to stay as spoiler free as possible.

The movie opens with a great battle, and then starts the plot forward with a few uttered words near the end of the battle. We find out that man and machine have a tenuous alliance but that not everyone is happy about that. The story then focuses on everyone's favorite fast-talking dude Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) and his trip out to college. Of course, his college is full of basically the most beautiful people ever in the world, but that is short lived as he loses his mind during one of the classes. That truly sets the story in motion as he charges across the world trying to figure out what the symbols in his head mean and why Megatron wants them. That's about as close to the plot as I can come. It's not overly complicated, but it does violate the "show not tell" policy that movies should adhere to during a lengthy exposition of what's going on. I'll break it down:

Plot: While not the movie's strong point, the plot is serviceable. We are talking about alien robots that come from a planet full of alien robots, after all. The plot serves to get the characters where they need to be, although I wish that the final action scene had taken place somewhere more impressive than where it was staged. I was a little sad about that. Likewise, I wish that they had spent just a touch more time to develop the story and why it's so important rather than wasting time on some lame jokes that were present all throughout the movie. Unfortunately, the comedy seems to be aimed at 13 year-olds. It's very juvenile, but I did find myself laughing at times. I'm afraid of what that says about me. Overall, The plot is definitely a weak point, so I say 5/10.

Acting: I don't think anyone is going to be blown away by the acting. They are playing exactly the roles that you expect them to play, and they are exactly the roles from the first one as well. Sam is the same fast-talking charmer, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) is quite literally just there to be exploited. She runs a lot in slow motion, and her lips have to be fake. Agent Simmons (John Turturro) makes his return as Agent Simmons. I do wish that he wasn't played strictly for jokes. I think that he could be a reasonable character if he wasn't just there to take off his pants once or do some other ridiculous stuff. There's another guy, Sam's roommate, who played another annoying character just there for laughs, but honestly, I never expected Oscar-worth performances here. Overall, a 6/10 for acting because everyone does their job.

Action: There is some amazing action in this movie. There's a fight in the forest that everyone is talking about, and for good reason. The end action scene is good, if a bit incomprehensible. The opening act is pretty awesome as well. Seriously. Just remember the phrase "air drop". That moment is so incredibly cool. But I did find myself missing some action in the middle. After the fight scene in the forest, the action dies out for awhile. If there was a better developed plot, this wouldn't have been much of an issue. However, as discussed, that's a problem, so I did get bored for a bit in the middle. Overall, however, the action and special effects are to notch, 8/10.

Overall: This is far from a movie that I hated. While I won't laud over it because it has too many weak points, and about 40 minutes could have (and should have) been eliminated from the middle, I found it to be great escapist, summer entertainment. Things blew up. Characters were in peril. And ultimately, I really enjoy the action of the Transformers. I'm going to give it a final of 7/10 and tell you to go and see it, as long as you do it in a nice theater to take advantage of the good projection equipment and the large screen. I don't think you'll regret it.

Side Note: There are some kind of crazy stereotypes in this movie. And there's a lot of robo-leg humping. You've been warned.

What did you guys think?

A Little Change

Hello world of bloggers.

As you may have noticed, I made some small changes here to my blog. I decided that a new color scheme was in order, and a new, faster loading picture above. So, I hope that you all enjoy that. Other than the cosmetic changes here on the site, I plan on being the same old Matthew, and filling your mind with more and more information that may be useless in your daily lives.

Recently, me and my wife have been enjoying each other's company. We've been going back and forth a lot to the Central Valley in California, and the weather is finally starting to turn around here. San Jose has been pretty cold, but today we finally got back up over 80 degrees and things are only supposed to get better. I guess that summer really will start. So, that's exciting to hear.

We moved a 55 inch TV (thanks mom and pop!) into our just-under-800 square foot apartment. I think that's a pretty good square foot to TV size ratio. It's a lot of fun. We got the HD tuner from Comcast, and now enjoy the extra clarity. At least, I think it's fun.

Recently I've had some severe gadget envy. With the release of the Palm Pre and te new iPhone 3GS and some brand new MacBook Pros and the like having been unleashed on the world, I find myself wanting something fun and shiny to play with. However, it's not in the cards. And that's perfectly all right. I just hope that someone around me will pick something up so that I can play with it and satisfy that internal desire for some shiny geek gadgetry. It's all fascinating and wonderful. Reading about it is one thing; maybe one day I'll get to play with all of the fun gadgets.

To give an A's update: They started winning some games, and then decided that wasn't fun anymore. So they've dropped most of the their last 8 games. It's been sad to watch. For some reason our bullpen just can't seem to hold it down. Our offense has been sputtering, but far more effective than earlier in the season. It's sad to watch, but I will be an A's fan through thick or thin. If you are in the East Bay, I suggest a game. They are fun, and baseball is a wonderful night to get away from everything else. Linds and I are going to the game on Friday (June 26th) with my parents. It's a fireworks game, and we'll be in the 2nd row by the opposing bullpen. It should be a TON of fun. Look for some pictures soon.

I have so much more to say regarding politics, technology, movies, and so many other things. But I think that I should just keep those inside for right now. I find that updates about hanging out with my wife gets the best traffic anyway. :)

Look forward to some more commentary from me soon.

I Have to Say It

So, this is going to be another political post. I just have it on my mind, and I need to vent slightly. I'd like to add as a disclaimer that I have not done significant research into this subject. I read the US News and Business news a few times a day on my Blackberry (using a fantastic program called Viigo, which I highly recommend for all blackberry users out there) and glean most of my information from the articles that appear from Reuters. I may be wrong on a few points, but I just have to talk about it because it's driving me nuts.

Quite some time ago, I wrote a post about the health care problem in the US. It was an interesting one for me to write, as it's a situation I'm close to having a father who has worked for Kaiser Permanente his entire life. However, as Obama is in office, he has made it clear that next few months are "crucial" for his healthcare reform plans. He wants to push some things through Congress before their recess for summer that happens in August. Part of this is to push through plans for health care which could include, among other things, taxing employer provided health care. True, he has said that he doesn't want to do that, however an article that I read recently remarked that the Senator writing the bill has said that it was likely to happen to help to cover the costs of the health care reform.

I ask this question earnestly: Why do we believe, when we already have a broken Medicare and Medicaid system, when our economy is in the pits and our government has already spent trillions of nonexistent money to help it to recover, and that they are already taking so many taxes from us, that we should allow the government to have more money to run a health care system? Is our system perfect? No. Is it expensive? Yes. But is the solution for our bureaucratic and compartmentalized government to take more money from us to provide an undoubtedly complex and expensive system of health care? I do not believe so.

I am genuinely confused at our belief that our government, who has made a debacle of health care in the small programs that they have, can run a full fledged health care system in the United States. Some argue that they are the only ones who could take a loss on health care and keep it running, but for how long? Eventually, they will take more money from us to fund more programs. Eventually, they will need to make money somewhere. Will they be able to buy the latest and greatest technology without it? It will cost us breakthroughs, and probably lives. The reality is that we need a program that encourages health. A program that encourages you to be healthy and not abuse the system. Something that can reinvest profits and keep themselves afloat. We don't need more bloated government programs. We need ideas that will truly work.

I'm just confused as to why we believe that this is a good idea at this point. Insight?

Memorial Day and Sister-in-Law’s Graduation

Hello the whole entire world. So, I’ve been the worst blogger as of late. It’s been supremely busy, and I’ve been quite exhausted doing all of the different things that we’ve had going on in our lives. While it might not seem like much from the pictures that are about to get posted, it’s been busy. But enjoy the pictures anyway:

Me and Linds at her parent’s house before the graduation.

Me and Linds’ cousin at the graduation.

Sun setting over the graduation during the ceremony.

Chelsea was happy to be done. Can you tell?

Chase, Lindsay and Chelsea.

We went up to my grandpa’s house. He’s 89, and looking good!

Lindsay’s latest cake. She’s really quite amazing.

Anyway, these are just some of the adventures. I don’t really have too much else to say these days. However, I love my life, and so does my wife. It’s really been a lot of fun and we’ve been really enjoying our lives together. We have been married for more than 6 months now, and things just keep getting better. I don’t think I could have been more lucky.

That's all for now. You know where to leave the comments. And please do. I'd like to know that you are visiting.

Mother's Day

Hey guys.

I've been trying to think of some things that need to get posted, and couple things did come to mind. Most importantly, seeing as Sunday is Mother's day, I decided that I would get my wife some stuff that she would need as she continues to develop her talents as a cake decorator. She is very naturally talented, so we went out and bought her a nice cake turntable for her (future) Mother's day present. It's going to help her become an even more amazing cake decorator.

As for the rest of what's been going on, I'll include some more pictures. Check out the life.

The cake that Lindsay made as practice. I told you she was good.

Me and Linds at her Grandparent's house for Easter.

The kids doing some Easter egg hunting. She found one hiding in the old stove outside.

My beautiful wife. I absolutely love this picture.

Me and my dad at the A's game. I got a nice sunburn. But the A's won. And we saw Giambi's first (and only, so far) homer of the year. The A's have been down for a little bit right now, however, don't sleep on them in the end.

That's all for now. You know where to comment.

Fun Life

So, I've been meaning to get up here and post some stuff on my blog. So let me give you a couple quick bursts of information, with more detail to come in later posts (I'll get back to regular posting, I promise):

• My wife and mother got together and did some extremely high qualilty catering for a wedding. They made petit fors, strawberry flowers and some other goodies. The food was amazing, and the lady was very impressed. My mom hopes to spend more time in catering, so please let us know if you'd like to talk to her about potential work for any event that you may be having soon. We have the pictures and recommendations to prove it. Not only that, but the prices are reasonable. Seriously.
  
• Lindsay and I have a wonderful Friday night activity: Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt Company. It's down the street from our home, and it's amazing and cheap. It only takes cash, but if you live in San Jose, you owe it to yourself. Their wow cow (one different flavor a day) has only 9 calories per ounce. Love.
• A project that I was working on at work was extremely well received and the CFO of the company is excited about what I produced. No more details than that, but I was/am well pleased.
• I recently went on a diet, the flat belly diet. I did it before, during the summer last year, and lost 22 pounds in a mere 6 weeks. It was very effective, and I went down by 6 inches on my pants and stomach. Since I've gone back up in weight, I need to take care of myself. So I am.
• Matt Holliday hit a towering home run today. Bout time. His first of the year, and I'm sure first of many to come. My dad and I went to a game on this past Saturday, got Holliday jerseys, and sat fifth row on the ground from right field. It was an awesome game. Giambi hit his first homer of the year and the A's stomped all over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It was so, so much fun. Baseball season is in full swing, and while the A's haven't been the best so far, things are starting to look up for them.
• We want a dog. But still don't know if that'll happen. But we'll keep you guys informed.

Much love to everyone. Leave me a comment to let me know you are reading. I'd love to hear from you.

I'm going to be posting more.

Till next time.

Roku Netflix Player and Life with Pictures

I LOVE my Roku Netflix Player. It's the coolest device that I've ever spent a hundred bucks on. Let me run this down for you.

• Dead simple to use. Seriously. You plug it in to the wall, the router, and the TV. Enter a code on your netflix account (that has unlimited streaming) and Wham! It syncs up and downloads all of the movies that you currently have on your "Watch Instantly" queue.
• You scroll through the movies by picture, select it, and then you simply press play. I've never had to wait longer than 15 or 20 seconds for a movie to load (6-12 Mbps Comcast cable internet) and the resolution has been great. I haven't had a chance to put it on a huge HDTV yet, but the picture quality is certainly close to, if not on par with, DVD.
• The selection is actually quite impressive. Over 12,000 titles are available through Netflix. And a whole bunch more content can be rented or purchased through Amazon Video on Demand. While I don't use Amazon, I currently have over 60 movies and full seasons of TV on my "Watch Instantly" queue.

This device has met all of my requirements to be a great edition to my AV setup. I'm planning on upgrading to an HDTV relatively soon, so I'll let you know what I think of it after that. Meanwhile, let me tell you this much: buy it. It's a hundred bucks. If you have a Netflix account with unlimited streaming, it allows you to get so much more for your money. I've watched 2 full seasons of 30 Rock (I can't recommend this show highly enough. One of the only shows that me and my wife actually laugh OUT LOUD at while we are watching it. The writing is sharp, witty, and current.), numerous hours of Law & Order SVU, and tons of movies that I can just turn on at the press of a button. As the selection continues to expand, this is only going to get better and better for the mere 100 bucks that it costs.

On another note, I bought it on a Saturday, and received it on Tuesday. It shipped late Monday night and was at my door on Tuesday (Shipped from 40 miles way in CA. :) ).

Ultimately, buy yourself one. You owe it to yourself. Expand your horizons, and enjoy your Netflix account again.

Life update: Things are very well in the Gamblin House. We spend time watching movies, going out to shop, and finding wonderful new places to eat and enjoy our time together in wonderful San Jose. We travelled out to Santa Cruz a week ago for a FANTASTIC Saturday date. It was seriously so fun. We were able to hang out and get some cotton candy and salt water taffy. The weather was perfect. Today was even better. 75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. I love living in this state, as it provides the greatest summer weather you could ask for.

I start playing EY basketball on Tuesday. I'm so out of shape, but can't wait to get involved playing ball again. Friday I'll be at the in laws, and then the week after that my wife and I will head up to my parents to help my mom cater a wedding. My wife can't wait! I'll include some pictures here. They are from my phone, so please excuse the poor resolution!

My wife made this cake. It's a bust of my dad's head. She's amazing. And for hire! Call us. Serious. :)

About to ride the Cave Train Adventure. So lame. But so fun.

Anyone want one? Yuck.

This ride is fun, but headache inducing.

This was in MARCH.

We love our state.

Leave any comments. We love them. Comment for the sake of it. So I know you are alive. And if you have a blog, and I haven't linked you, give me the link. I'd love to add you to the blogroll!

Science and Religion: Not Mutually Exclusive

So, I read some internet forums. While I realize that the anonymity and assurance of “privacy” encourage relatively abnormal behavior, I am always impressed by the hatred of religion that they tend to express in some internet forums. They blame and yell at the “religious-conservative-fear-mongers” for most of the woes and problems of the world. It always confuses me. I only read them to try to get more of an understanding for why there is such a disgust of religion and people who believe in God. They choose to say that they are uneducated and foolish, people who choose the “easy way out”, believing that there is a God and trying to find a meaning in this life. They frequently say that religious people do not believe in science, do not understand politics, and are pretty much just ignorant people. I have never understood this, and I want to attempt to talk briefly about it in the post.

First of all, science and religion do not hate each other. While some people would have you believe that religion and science do not get a long that is simply not a fact. In fact, I find that science actually confirms and supports my faith and helps me to know more and feel better about the beliefs that I have. Science, by discovering these new innovations, these new inventions, and new theories that are espoused every day help to confirm and grow my faith. From the discovery of the atom, to the foundations of, gasp, evolution, I feel that lots of these discoveries have helped me to confirm my faith and reaffirm to me that there is a pattern in the world and in life. My faith does not force me to believe that everything about evolution is a lie. We have seen evolution. It acts on this world. Don’t get me wrong, in no way to I think that I evolved from a monkey. However, I have no doubt that humans have evolved to be better humans, and that many other creatures have likewise done so.

Other complaints I hear are involved with miracles. While some would purport that miracles do not exist because science cannot explain them, I would simply counter that we do not have the science to explain them. Our science has not reached its pinnacle. We do not know everything about the interaction of certain elements of our universe. What if miracles were simply operating on scientific principles which we do not yet understand? Is that so out of the question? Have we grown so arrogant as to assume that we have discovered all that there is to discover?

Second of all, science is never “sure” about anything. That is the whole principle behind a theory. The definition of theory is “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena” (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=theory ). I think the key is that it is “well substantiated”. Theories have been shown to be true, using the limited knowledge and resources that we might have available to us. However, theories are being changed and disproven every day in our new scientific reality. Not too long ago, we were sure that the atom was the smallest particle. Hundreds of years ago, scientists were sure that the world was flat. These were accepted scientific facts. Yet, look what we know today. Imagine, just imagine, what we’ll know tomorrow. (UPDATED: When I wrote this line, I remembered that it was from something that I had read or seen. Bryan reminded me that I adapted this last sentence or two from Men in Black.)

Third, and finally, I really detest the claims that those who are religious simply “take the easy way out”. There seems to be this thought that by being religious, and believing in God, that we (those who have faith) just take the easy way out justify it with God or the devil. I do not know a single religious person who does this. I do not discourage scientific exploration, nor dissuade them from trying to understand our natural world. I would argue, actually, that the reverse is true of those who “take the easy way out”. I would argue that it is 10x easier to only believe in that which you can see. To believe that nothing governs our behavior. To believe that you can do whatever you want and there is nothing else to worry about. In my estimation, believing in a God, pushing to do what is good in His sight, and believing not only in that which can be seen, but in that which cannot be seen is much more challenging than the opposite.

I am not trying to position myself as elitist, or correct. I’m just trying to explain some of my feelings on this issue. Being religious is not easy. It’s hard. Some may find that it is not for them and I will not begrudge them this. Everyone is free to make their own choices. I would just ask that before they choose to bash my choices and my opinions, that they make sure that they understand my side of the argument.

Science and religion do not hate each other. Those who would have you believe this are either as uneducated as they claim the others to be, or simply do not understand.

Leave your message after the break.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes - Watchmen

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes (Who Watches the Watchmen?) is the final closing quote in the massive 12-issue compendium that is Watchmen. Since so much has been written regarding this graphic novel on the intrawebz already, I'll just quote a quick synopsis:

It tells the story of a group of past and presentsuperheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who - with one notable exception - lack anything recognizable as super powers. Watchmen's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film.

So much has been written about the novel that is Watchmen that I feel that I can probably contribute very little in way of insight into the novel that has not been presented before. Any quick google search with the phrase "watchmen" will provide millions of hits deconstructing the themes and import of the novel over the course of the last 20 years. So, I think I will just offer some of my thoughts regarding the novel and what I gleaned from its pages. I will open myself up to many SPOILERS over the next few paragraphs. So, if you intend on seeing the movie, or reading the novel and don't want to know anything about it right now, please stop reading. I'll blog again soon something that you can enjoy.

Watchmen focuses on real people. Real fictional people. Let me explain. After WW2, there began a fad of "vigilante" heroes that cropped up in America. These people didn't have any special powers, but referred to themselves as heroes. They fought crime, dressed up in strange costumes, and did those things that we are familiar with in the typical "superhero" role. The one exception is Dr. Manhattan, who had his "intrinsic field" removed and is now an all powerful being. He is the lynch pin of American society, and due to this knowledge, they live in an alternate world where all cars are electric, and many other technologies exist that we don't even have in our wondrous age of 2009. It's interesting. It's  world that is wholy wrong, and wholy challenging. While the world is far from our own, it's a world that seems plausible. Yes, I'm aware it's not real and never could be. But the way that the novel presents the world, it just feels like it could have happened that way had a few other things fallen differently.

Dr. Manhattan makes for the most interesting study for me. He can deconstruct objects with his mind, and remove the field from each object htat he comes in contact with. Another fascinating thing about him is his ability to see time as one. He sees no past, no future, no present ... he just perceives time. It is a complicated part of the world that Alan Moore has created. Manhattan tells people what they will be doing in hours, days, years from now. He perceives it all. He explains in one moment that it's not that he's taking choice away, he just sees the outcomes of the decisions, of the choices that we will make. It's not about control for Manhattan. It's about being able to see the results before they occur. In one particularly poignant moment, he travels to Mars to contemplate his own disconnect from humanity. He tells his entire history, bringing together every moment from his life as they overlap in time. He perceives the events as if they are occurring at the same moment, events which ultimately come together to lead him to where he is. Now, this may sound complicated, and it is, however, it is handled with a superb grace and subtlety as to make it seem to make sense. Hard to believe, I know.

Rorschach is the other character that I'd like to touch on. He's an absolutist. Absolutely believes in wrong versus right. When presented with the amazing acts of Adrian Veidt (the man who orchestrates the deaths of millions of New Yorkers in order to unite the world against a common enemy), he sees not the benefit that will come from this action. He doesn't comprehend that this will unite the world and prevent nuclear war with the Soviets (who are the major threat due to the lack of the Cold War). He sees only the right and the wrong. There is no utilitarianism in Rorschach's mind ... only good and evil. Ultimately, his end is fascinating in contrast with the world that has been created.

There are so many other things involved in this novel that I could talk about. From the iconoclastic Comedian, to the subtle undertones of powerlessness and fear that are involved in why these people step out to become "heroes".

Overall, just a fascinating analysis of the psyche of these so-called heroes.

Let's Get Political ... Political

Hey everyone. I know you missed my incessant political rants. Well, here comes a new one. I promise not to be too mean.

Note: My vote breakdown comes from the following site. If my numbers are incorrect, it's because the numbers from the article are incorrect.

Remember when Barack Obama was running for president of the USA? He talked about bipartisanship, and bridging the gap between the two political parties that dominate our current political landscape. Basically, for those who know nothing, Democrats and Republicans disagree on many key points. These aren't necessarily the most important things, but they tend to be opposite on certain key issues. The economy is one of them. While I really am a moderate with a conservative leaning, I find myself much m ore aligned with conservative economics. This does color my current article. However, this is not the point I've come for.

Obama talked bipartisanship more than any previous presidential candidate that has ever been around. Most talk it, but don't really believe it. One reason that I was appreciative of Obama is that he seemed genuinely interested in working with the Republicans. Call it however you see it, but there hasn't been any more conversation or agreement ever since he came into office. Place the blame where you will, there doesn't seem to be much of a move from EITHER side to work together.

Perfect example is the recent stimulus bill that was passed. It passed the House with ZERO, YES ZERO, votes from Republicans. Now that's bipartisanship. In a previous post I talked about how I was afraid of any political party having unchecked power in the government. We've reached that point where the Democrats have this. They have control of the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branch. This essentially means that they can pass what they want. While many might be excited about that, the reality is that I think that too much of either side will ultimately hurt us. Our government was designed with these checks in mind. Can I just say that it scares me that only one political party carries power in the government?

As a side note, I find it very interesting that Obama preaches about cutting the deficit and spending more, and creating a bigger government. That just doesn't seem to quite add up.

I'm glad, however, that he didn't go for a "new deal" type stimulus package. The reality is that at it's peak, that legislation had a top income tax bracket of 94% (see 1944 and 1945 on that page). And the cutoff was $200,000. I don't care that I don't make that much (or do I ... hahahahaha) I think that the government taking that much from anyone is absolutely out of line.

But I digress. I just wish that checks and balances were alive in our government today.

I Did Something I've Been Wanting to do ...

I bought a car. That's right. I bought a car. And I do appreciate all the input on the car decision. I just had to go with my gut, and the car that I felt best represented me and Lindsay, as well as provided us with the benefits that we will need. So we did it!

I am so excited about it. Let me tell you: I bought a 2009 Mazda 6. It's gorgeous. Now, here's the best part: I got it for probably $8,000 less than it would have been completely new. How, you ask? Well, I found a used one with 9,000 miles on it. That's right. 9,000 miles. That's it. For that reason, I got the car for about $8,000 less than the retail would have been on it were I have to purchased it with 250 miles on it. I can't tell you how excited we are about this car. It's white with black interior. And it has some cool features:

• Push button ignition.
• Mazda "Advanced Key" -- Basically,  you never have to take the key out of your pocket.
• A CAVERNOUS trunk. Seriously.
• 8-speaker sound system with Aux hook up
• Steering wheel cruise and audio controls
• And more!

I really love my car guys. I'm really excited to be driving it. And the best part is that it gets fantastic gas mileage, and will likely pay for itself with my mileage reimbursements in the long run. That's just so thrilling. I do have to admit that I was sad to see my beloved Firebird have to go. I miss it. But it's ok, as it will serve it's purpose for someone else. I know that the Firebird will live on. I'll post some pictures of my car later.

Work is good. I have been working on a custom data analytics assignment for one of our clients out of San Francisco. I have been working from the office, analyzing the data and verifying integrity and other items. It's been a fun project so far, and I'm learning a lot about how electronic accounting information systems work and process data. It's been an interesting ride. I enjoy some business intelligence work, so it's been a fun release for me.

Lindsay had an interview last week, and applied for a few more jobs this week. She taught the lesson on Sunday in primary and did a wonderful job (did I mention that we teach the valiant 9 in primary?)! We went up to my parent's house on Sunday for my mom's traditional pink dinner. Yes, everything was pink: chicken, rolls, pears, sweet potatoes, everything. It was all dyed up, and it was very delish. I helped my dad move the old TV and we set up the new one in it's "spot". It looks great.

What can I say? Things are wonderful. I can't complain for a minute.