Volleyball Regular Season Complete

I have been playing volleyball at work for three or four years now. We have had quite a few different team members, as people would leave or join the company. Most years we did average, holding around a 50% win/loss ratio, but last year was definitely one of our worst years, as we worked to keep off the bottom spot.

However this year it seems we have finally clicked as a team. Tonight we played the number one team in the league, and we beat them 2 games to 1! This moved us into first place over them for the regular season, as playoffs start next week.

It feels great to go from being near the bottom to being number one. This has also given me confidence, to know that we can hang with anyone out there, and we have a chance to win. Of course this also means I can't use the excuse that they were just the better team when we lose, as I know we have the ability to win.

Final scores tonight were 21-18, 20-22(loss), 21-16.

Congrats to everyone on the team, we really are working together great, and hopefully we will be playing together for years to come.

Garden Planted

We final got some plants in the garden this weekend. Since it is so late in the season we got some partially grown plants. One thing we quickly realized is this garden may need to be expanded for next year. Especially if we want to do some pumpkin or watermelon.

Second Building

For my second model, I decided to created my work building. This one was a little more challenging, as it has a ton of trees, shrubs, cars, etc. around the outside. I did my best at finding a few parts of the picture that had nothing in front and then just repeating that for the other walls. It isn't quite as accurate, but it gives a much better picture of the building.

The other plus of doing it this way is the file size is MUCH smaller. Since it just uses the same texture over and over, it really cuts down on file size. This one is about 1MB, compared to my house which was around 8MBs.

Anyway, check out the model, and I'll post again if any of these make it into google earth.

Our House... In 3D!

Check out our house! I made this so I could submit it for inclusion in Google Earth. If they accept it that means whenever anyone goes to our address in Google Earth, they will see a real house model, instead of just the aerial shot that is in there now. If you already have google earth, you can download and view the model right now.

This one took me about 30 minutes to create. I intentionally made the shape very simple, so it would be easy for computers to render. I imagine once I get good I'll be able to create a model in about half that time.

If you are interested in creating your own models for google earth, this blog post has a great video that shows you how to do it. (it is what I followed).

Update: Make sure you click the image below, you can actually rotate it in your browser by dragging it from side to side.

Google Wave

Most of you probably know I am a fan of Google. I would still like to believe I look at what they do objectively until I can decide it if it actually something cool and valuable.

That was the case with a new product they just announced called Google Wave. It was announced as "What email would be if it was designed today". When I first saw this, I have to say I was not very excited about it. It looked like another messaging application. So I didn't pay much attention to it, and figured I would check it out later.

About a week later I decided turn their video on that went over the details of this new application. I just had it on in the background and at first was paying much attention to it. However as I started to realize what they were talking about, I got more and more interested. By the end of the video (it was about a 90 minutes demonstration) I was completely sold. My mind was spinning thinking about all of the ways this product could make what I am currently doing in my life easier.

So what is it going to do? It is going to make many types of communication you do over the internet better. Email, better. Instant Message, better. Plan a family reunion with your 3o relatives, better. I am especally excited about using this at work for software design documents.

This is probably long enough for now, so I won't go into the details of everything this is going to do. If you are really interested you can watch the 90 minute presentation at the link above. If not though, hopefully in about 6 months when you hear about this new "Google Wave" product, you will remember this blog post and take the time to go check it out. I promise you it will be worth it.

Patio Party

Had another great Patio Party this weekend. It started to rain right at the end, so everyone came inside for the last 30 minutes or so.

I decided to just do a web album with the pictures this time, check it out.

Princess and the...Shoe?

Kyla is not normally one for naps, but apparently this spot was oh so comfortable.

Baseball park

Kyle and I took a bicycle ride to the local baseball park today. It is as busy as I have ever seen it. The games are quite fun to watch and Kyla has a great time on their playground.

As I was watching one game, a team had two people on base with two outs. Their smallest player was up to bat, and seeing his size the other team pulled all of their outfielders in to try and quickly get the last out. I started to feel sorry for the kid as I didn't think he had much of a chance.

Then I watched as this little guy blasted one over everyones head and drove in two runs for his team. Freakin awesome.

More Bryce

Haven't posted a picture or Bryce in a while so here you go. He is definetly starting to get some chubby cheeks.

Thats one way to do it.

I guess it is better then carrying them by hand... :)

Water Works

Went to our local water park this evening. We are quite fortunate to have this park within 15 minutes of our house.

Weekend Work

This weekend we went over to the sister and brother is law's and got to build up a raised bed around their patio. Thankfully we are old hats at this now, so it all went pretty fast. Jeff had already dug down for the base, so it was just a matter of figuring out exactly where the wall went and leveling it all. Pics are below.

Don't Jump (part 2)

fyi, that was not just a random picture of my neighbors house. Just wanted to make sure everyone noticed. :)