Perhaps I should back up a few steps and talk about I’ve been doing the past few years.

I’ve been working at Vidoop since the company’s inception, being one of the inventors of the ImageShield authentication system. The company has grown tremendously since the founding date in March 2006.. from the original 4 people, the staff has grown to somewhere close to 50 (I’ve lost track of the official count). We’ve established ourselves as pioneers in the identity space, working with a variety of organizations to help foster growth and innovation in identity on the web. In the process Vidoop has moved from our original headquarters in Tulsa, OK to our new home in Portland, OR. I’m still based in Tulsa for awhile, until my wife and I can move out to Portland.

Which is a nice segue into the next major announcement: This past May, I got married to a wonderful girl named Adrienne! The wedding was an eventful occasion: lots of great memories with family and friends. We also enjoyed our honeymoon in Maui.. it was a paradise we didn’t want to leave

i went to a pretty sweet concert last week. it was a *FREE* show sponsored by the edge, with story of the year as the headlining act. i brought the marnis and andrew along with me… it was interesting. the average age in the audience was probably somewhere along the lines of 15… lol. so there were a few comments such as “we’re like 10 years too old for this show!!” i had a really good time though, and i’m pretty sure the others did as well (even though i, of course, received a ton of crap for the young crowd and the wild antics that ensued). we were in very close proximity to the mosh pit, and got knocked backwards plenty of times. the kids were krazy! i saw several people in the bathroom doctoring their bloody noses, battle scars from the moshing. the opening bands (there were 3) pretty much all sounded the same. SOTY played a really awesome set.. at one point they did this montage with several 80s rock songs — stuff by ozzy, bon jovi, poison, GNR, etc. good times, good times.. =)

and the past couple days i’ve been SICK. which isn’t something i experience often, thankfully. i’m doing the typical common sense stuff, so hopefully it will go away soon. missing work can be a good thing, but being too sick to enjoy it makes for a miserable situation :””’( hahahaha. i’m such a sympathy whore sometimes, i guess.

OH! to end on a positive, non-sympathy-garnering note, i’ve been highly amused by this humor site lately: Chuck Norris facts. this is quite literally the most hysterical thing i’ve seen/read/whatever in a long time. suffice it to say chuck norris is my new hero.

the first of the season, and it’s blistering cold outside… ForeCastFox says it’s *15 degrees*… brrrrrrr! so i’m definitely staying inside where it’s warm. i love the way the snow illuminates the usually dark night with its lustrous glow. it could almost be daytime with the amount of light outside right now… at least an overcast, rainy sort of daytime.

speaking of cold, i spent black friday morning freezing my tail off in the best buy parking lot. dad was going to wait for the buttcrack-of-dawn 5AM opening to take advantage of the BF specials, including a $397 laptop. so i was basically there to keep him company (there wasn’t anything i wanted to get). we arrived around midnight and there were already about 50 people lined up… including some idiots who set up a tent! alas, we waited 5 hours in the ridiculously cold weather for nothing: best buy employees worked the line before the grand opening to solicit buyers of the “major” sale items like TVs, etc. and they had already sold all of the laptops that were in stock. dad still scored a few items that were left, but afterwards we both decided it was quite stupid, a waste of time, etc., and we vowed to never do it again.. unless a REEEAAALLY good deal comes up

in sports news, TU’s done quite well in football lately, and simultaneously BAAD in basketball. ah, the curse lives on: it seems we either have a pretty good football season or basketball season, but not both (granted, sometimes they both equally suck). we’re even going to a *bowl game* again this year, the liberty bowl, in which we’ll play fresno state. i was witness to the first basketball game (vs. SFA) and i guess we didn’t play *too* badly, but a lot of what i’d consider rookie mistakes were made. such as? missing layups and other similarly easy shots, and how about making a basket (albeit accidentally) for the opposing team. yes, this actually happened.. first time i’d ever seen it anywhere other than.. say, middle school. now i’m not trying to badmouth TU here (although it seems like i’ve done a pretty decent job so far). we played a solid game against OU, a formidable opponent. i still believe there’s hope yet for the boys to turn it around.

i read that pat morita, immortalized as mr. miyagi in the karate kid, died the other day. “wax-on, wax-off” is probably one of the most treasured films quotes in recent history, alluding to a character-building process through hard work and determination. although he successfully portrayed other roles, pat will live on in the hearts of a generation as the wise old karate master who forged a champion out of the seemingly ineffectual daniel-san.. and made us laugh all the while.