To celebrate Oriana and my mom’s birthdays, we went to Uchiko on Saturday. They were 30 minutes late seating us, but definitely made up for it by either being extremely generous with a single omakase order (usually meant for a pair, but four of us were fed) or giving us one for free. Then they also threw in an appetizer or two and extra fried milk desserts which is probably my favorite dessert second only to the craziness that is Alinea. I think that experience has cemented Uchiko as my favorite restaurant in Austin.

Earlier that day, I took Mozilla over to meet Syndey where he chased her around the yard (she was kind of scared of him) until she threw up. Sydney is a big lab, so it was fairly comical.

On Sunday, I hooked up with the owners of one of Mozilla’s brothers, Texas, who just so happens is also in Austin. They came over and the puppies played for quite a while:

Olivia also has lots of good photos.

Haha, fat looking puppy:

I went to The Domain along with some peeps primarily for Jonney and FiFi’s engagement (actual event and photos). I took the opportunity to socialize Mozilla a bit more and took him too. He was quite the popular little puppy there. I had one guy stop me and gave me his email so I could send him information (breeder, etc.). Here are some photos:

“How you doin’?”

Oh, and if you’re interested in Jonney and FiFi’s engagement photos, you’ll have to bug Sam and Kat. =p

Shiba inus are infamous for not recalling well. You can tell them to come and they may look at you but then there’s a good chance they’ll ignore you. Mozilla hasn’t been too bad at this so far, but last night when it was rainy and wet outside, I would wipe his feet every time he came back inside. He apparently isn’t much of a fan of this so he got progressively more stubborn about not coming in. Luckily he is a little guy and I just catch him and pick him up. =)

ANNNNNDDDD… Happy birthday, Oriana. =)

In usual planeteers fashion (we have a mailing list called planeteers, so that’s the name “the group” has inherited), we rang in the new year by playing Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and at midnight we mass suicided by shooting each other and throwing frag grenades at our feet. Good times. Back in the day, we used to play Raven Shield a lot of the max difficulty which is really hard and you almost always die in one hit from “the terrorists.” Whenever only a few of us were left and we weren’t near completing the map, someone would yell “all hope is lost!” which would usually prompt some/all of the remaining players to turn on each other and then suicide themselves so a new round would start. Sometimes, though, “all hope is lost!” would be called prematurely by someone who just didn’t want to wait around that long for the next round… you’d immediately hear “NO NO NO!” but it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy as we don’t need a lot of reason to kill each other. =p

Here are some instagram photos of Mozilla from my phone. I need to try to take more “real” photos of him while he’s still a puppy…

On the way back from Arkansas:

Chewing, with pink crate in the background:

Tired out after playing with pink ball:

Mozilla snuggled up against my leg and passed out:

Mozilla’s raccoon tail:

Also, I decided to get a new car (Accord Coupe V6):

2011 was kind of an off year for blogging for me. I’ll try to pick it back up this year. That’s my resolution.

ALL HOPE IS LOST!

Now, on to the positives!

I’m sure it was a combination of things, but I finally broke down and got a puppy. Nancy says it’s about time and I’m two years late. Well, better late than never? =p I feel a little ashamed at not rescuing a dog, but my little shiba inu pup, Mozilla, is so awesome, I honestly can’t say I have any regrets. Sorry? =p

On Christmas Eve, Andrew, Nancy, Sam, Viraj and I hit the road. Here’s a short video of our trip to Arkansas to get the little guy:

And now, some photos. I made sure to wear my Mozilla Firefox shirt given the planned name I had for him.

On another topic, here’s a video of Oriana opening the Christmas gift I got her:

Bye for now!

I certainly wouldn’t say I’m a ska type of guy, but there’s just that right something about FIF that gets to me. I remember being hit by a ton of emotion during their last song and joining in with the crowd saying “THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU…” when it ended.

Well, FIF IS BACK (!!) and I’m having a good time listening to their preview song.

That is all. =)

When we played this to Sam, he sent me a multitude of cuss words. <3 Sam.

Viraj made me censor a scene, but if you know me and want to see it, friend me on YouTube (owiber) and I may give you access to the uncensored version. =)

I wish I had gotten more footage, but not feeling well for part of the trip took a toll on my willingness to film much. Wish I had more footage of others on the trip. Next time! Enjoy!

A few minutes before the movie started, we were the only guys there. Some others showed up as the movie was starting, but we were the only ones without accompanying females. That said, I enjoyed the movie, so take away what you will from that. =p

On Saturday, I watched UT lose (good try though, guys) and just did some misc hanging out. Sunday, I had a birthday lunch with the family and then hung out with peeps again. Viraj and I finally got around to recording some post-Asia trip interviews for our trip documentary. I cut a few of the clips together last night and it’s turning out well. I still need quite a few snippets, but it’s a good start.

BYE

Viraj being a creeper:

Mikey successfully wooing Viraj:

Mikey whispering sweet nothings to Viraj:

What Nancy feels for Sam after Viraj’s apparent fling with Mikey:

Alrighty, so it feels like it’s been a busy month.

BV All-Hands:

As usual, the rest on flickr.

Melissa graduated:

Flickr set.

Shot the Midgetmen & Blistering Speeds:

Flickr set.

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

It was pretty moving as I think we can all connect with the pain of loss. Sometimes it’s good to cry, ya know?

The Bazaarvoice crew lost one of our young implementation engineers this weekend to a stupid hit and run. If you have any information, please contact APD. I didn’t know him very well, but from the small bit of time I worked with him, I know the loss of Andrew Runciman will be felt at BV, so I can only imagine the loss felt by his friends and family. Prayers to you all.