Uncanny Resemblances

ever noticed how much some babies look like their mothers? sometimes it's down right eery.

Well ever since my cousing Becky had her little Ellen i have been amazed how much they look alike.

Seriously, since i grew up with Becky I can remember quite clearly (ok, with the help of pictures) what she looked like as a baby.

So now that Ellen's around it's just bizarre, i looks like Becky is holding baby Becky. Weird weird weird.

Recently on Becky's blog she posted a picture of her holding little Ellen who is wearing a giraffe halloween costume. Anyway, i dug through some old pictures of Becky and found this one when she was wearing her giraffe halloween costume too.

I cut them out and put them side by side and you can REALLY see the resemblance...it's uncanny.

check it out...

But it does seem like the genes are improving over time...

Happy last day in October!

p.s. i'm hoping i can win over both Megan and Katie with this post since it is both creepy-bizarre-funny and adorable. I will become blog queen!

Van Gogh Overload

Here's Van Gogh's "Two Figures in the Underbrush"

Here's Briana's "Two Figures in the Underbrush" --Week 1

Here's Briana's "Two Figures in the Underbrush" --Week 2

Here's Briana's "Two Figures in the Underbrush" --Week 3 and final:

Here are some crazy color variations Briana discovered in photoshopland:

Well there you have it folks, there you have it.

It's that time again..

..when evil lurks in every corner. When villainous beasts attack. When ordinary every-day pets suddenly succumb to the devil and reek havoc on you and your neighbors.

beware!


here were some recent sitings...

Meet Shelby Patel...

You know the old saying, no good deed goes unpunished? Ok well back when i was getting ready to leave JG and switch jobs my office mate Alysse was very sad to see me go. So in an attempt to make the transition easier (and to be funny and startling), I had life size cardboard cutouts of myself made and put them in my chair so that when she came in Monday morning, there i would be, smiling and greeting her.

I had about 4 of these made, various poses, various expressions, various outfits. I had some inside help of trading them out, positioning and (i hoped) monitoring their use.

Well one of my coworkers, Kelly, thought it would be funny to have me "show up" around town.

Not a bad idea. So here I am getting my hair done at Hair-a-Go-Go:


Nice. Sure.

Ok well then i got left in the car and her husband who happens to be a swim coach at McCallie (boys preparatory school) had some of his equipment in the back. He asked his swim team to help unload the car and suddenly i ended up here...




they didn't know my name so they renamed me Shelby Patel....here's Shelby...



Well, Kelly tried to get be back out of the boys bathroom but by that time Shelby had miraculously disappeared. I don't think i want to know where she is now....

and the weird thing is...

Success! I have finished the movie (p.s. i love you). Yes, finished w/o crying. I'm pretty excited about that, i even watched about 1/2 hour all at once! Ok well now that the movies' over here's my evaluation: good, actually better than i expected.

spoiler alert: don't read this unless you don't care about me spoiling the ending...

ok, i was SO glad that she and Harry Connick Jr didn't end up together.
a) because i hate him and think he's the biggest sappy retard ever and
b) because it was the typical "she's-going-to-end-up-with-him" setup...i hate predictable endings with retarded people.
anyway that was a pleasant surprise.





ok, now it's time for a poll.--------------------
You are in a conversation where you have the perfect response (either a movie quote, funny inside joke, witty banter -type response etc) however you realize that your wit and humor will be totally lost on your recipient. Do you...

a) say it anyway because it is the perfect opporitunity and if you ever get to heaven and watch your whole life as a movie (Duane Barger?) then you'll be glad you did

or

b) keep it to yourself becaus there's no point in wasting genius when it won't be appreciated.

tell me your answer and i'll tell you mine.

3rd Ann

10/8/2008

3rd Anniversary

legal disclaimer: we do not, have not, and will not ever own these shirts. this is either a) a figment of your imagination or b) a quick photoshop job to illustrate a deeply felt bond of love and devotion, a parable if you will. i know i will.

Love ya Trev!

integrated asset performance management (APM)

This is my dad's company and today we are going to talk about how it is awesome and so is my dad, ok....go.

What does Meridium Do?
(i stole this from their website because since i was little i've only been able to explain what my dad does by saying "he saves businesses money by making sure their stuff works good". So here's the real answer...)

Meridium, Inc. is a leading independent software vendor delivering an integrated asset performance management (APM) software solution to the process manufacturing industry.

Using the Meridium solution, clients are able to effectively manage assets to maximize production capacity at the lowest possible cost, limiting risk to environmental health and safety incidents.

Who is Meridium?
Privately held, Meridium has a global sales, consulting and support team with regional offices in Houston and corporate headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia. Our management team and staff is comprised of individuals with a depth of experience in the process and power industries and in the performance management of production assets.

Founded in 1993, Meridium has grown into a full-service software product company focused on helping clients extract the maximum value from their production assets.

Our philosophy is simple: We base our business on honesty and fairness, and we strive to provide companies like yours with the solutions that reduce risk and improve your bottom line.

Check out this part:
Bonz Hart, President

(to see how dad has changed over the years, click here)
Bonz Hart founded Meridium in 1993 with a vision of helping the world's asset intensive industries improve availability and reduce incidents through effective asset performance management.

Working for industrial software companies, consulting for Fortune 500 companies, being part of new company startup management teams and developing innovative software at DuPont drove Bonz’s passion for and commitment to meeting customer needs world-wide. At DuPont, he created a team of key technology partners to develop plans for a revolutionary plant information system to significantly reduce operating costs.

He later joined a software venture and built a consortium of leading companies to create an enterprise plant software system for manufacturing.

Today, he leads a unique team that is committed to solving customer problems, delivering solutions on-time and on-budget, measuring ROI and continually expanding the ways that Meridium software can help companies improve asset performance management.

Office Locations:
Roanoke, VA - Blacksburg, VA
Houston, TX
Dubai, U.A.E.
Perth, AUS
Walldorf, Germany
(wow, that's crazy!)

Anyway, i just wanted to brag on my dad a little bit. He built his business from the office above our garage to a global empire (ok slight exaggeration for effect). He has put more hours in then probably hours i've been alive...ok wait, what's the math on that? Anyway he has done a great, great job and I am so proud of him. That's all. I just wanted to brag on my dad. Ok then. thanks for your time.

This concludes today's broadcast. To learn more visit http://www.meridium.com/ Tune in next time for Pumpkin Carving: harmless fall activity or devil-worshipping ritual.

that warm and fuzzy time again

But first, a note from our sponsors:
If my title lead you to believe that this would be some sappy story involving puppies, ponies or love-sick sweethearts, I do apologize. The touchy-feely rarely makes an appearance here, my friend. Rarely indeed. We focus more on bizarre and random with a side of funny.


And now, without further ado, our feature presentation:

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It is…
-Fall weather (the temperature is currently hovering around 72 degrees with winds from the north east at 5-7mph, back to you Lisa)
-Pumpkin Spice latte time at Starbucks….a true sign of fall



-Time to pull out the sweatshirts and socks and start burrowing.

-Time to make that “dot” blanket that’s been waiting since spring for motivation to start.

-Christmas music playing time (what it’s already only 84 days til Christmas! Plus if it wasn’t Christmas-listening-time why did Amy release another Christmas album 2 days ago?!—what? Oh, yea of course, I got it yesterday.)

-It is almost…
-My 3rd anniversary (10/8)

-Kaley’s 17th birthday (10/11)

-Our weekend trip to Charleston to celebrate Kaley’s birthday w/ the fam




peace on earth and fall rocks!
-briana