Shane Guymon: The Blog

NEW BLOG!!!!

2011-03-25T14:43:00.005-05:00

Hey world... I didn't stop blogging, so if you subscribe to this RSS my blog has moved to a brand spanking new location. It is now completely integrated into my website and my domain name. So please feel free to join me.

Moving On

2010-03-05T18:56:00.003-06:00

I've known about Tumblr for quite a number of years now. Actually I'm not really sure when I first heard about them, but recently I heard people talking about it more and more so just as I did with Twitter I decided to look into it a bit more. Then after reading through their website I took the next step and decided I'd test out the waters.

The sign-up experience was a breeze, and so super simple, it had a lot of nice features and aspects. In the last year or so the way I use the internet has evolved. I am uploading videos to Vimeo, I am uploading pictures to Flickr, I am bookmarking websites on Delicious, and I am tweeting it up on Twitter. Occasionally I was also still finding things to actually write a blog about as well. So a lot of people started complaining to me that I wasn't "blogging" anymore. So I would inform them of just how very active I was online & that I am just using various outlets. Well Tumblr allows me to utilize all of these different outlets but bring them to just one place. It's great!

So I am inviting you all to come and join me over at Tumblr. To the two people that have subscribed to my RSS feed, feel free to now follow my Tumblr RSS feed instead. You will notice that I have successfully moved ALL of my old blog posts over to the Tumblr archive as well. I've already updated all of the links on my personal website to be directed to the new blog location.

Enjoy™

Hannah & Pongo

2010-02-23T21:30:00.007-06:00

Once upon a time I went outside with Pongo and he got out, and I said, "OH NO! Pongo got out!"

So I went after him.

Pongo went to a "spooky forest," so I went there too.

He went to a "volcano," so I went too.

He went to a "chair forest," so I went too.

Then it was "really windy" so we went back home.

The End.

This was a story that Hannah told me the other day. So I quickly wrote it down and thought it would make a GREAT children's book. Hannah is ALWAYS drawing, so now I am trying to save as many of her drawings as I think could be applied to her story. I was thinking I could make it into an actual book written & illustrated by Hannah.

Good News for People Who Love Bad News

2010-02-03T14:05:00.005-06:00

(Click on the image above to go directly to the music)

A mix tape for those bad days or moments in life that we all have. This mix of eleven tracks including music by Ben Folds, Bishop Allen, Pinback, Death Cab for Cutie, Noah & the Whale, Modest Mouse, Mirah, Straylight Run and Brand New should give you something not only to relate to, but it just might help you see the sun behind the clouds.

Enjoy™

You should follow me on Twitter!

The Jumper

2010-02-01T12:08:00.008-06:00

Recently Connor is obsessed with jumping! So we hung up our little jumper that Hannah used to love, and it turns out he will stay in it for very long periods of time perfectly happy and content. The boy LOVES to jump!

Even when you hold him in your lap, he still just wants to jump.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

I know I haven't been updating this blog "per say" as regularly as I should. I am a very active tweeter. In fact my tweets stream directly to the sidebar. I also am continually adding to my "Networthy" section in the sidebar. I will try to be a better blogger though.

WORK RELATED NEWS

I somehow managed to convince my wonderful boss Brian Liddiard to send me to SXSW Interactive for the second year in a row. SXSW starts up in March 2010 & I am SUPER excited about that.

I also recently launched an awesome website for a Salt Lake City Dentist, showcasing my growing knowledge of CSS to the community of Salt Lake City (at least those looking for a dentist), and the infinite abyss I call the interweb. The site will look best for those using a modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Safari), but will still function well in any other browser that is NOT Internet Explorer 6.

PERSONAL RELATED NEWS

Other than that, we are doing well and thinking of different ways to improve our house. Connor is growing up too fast, and is already 6 months old. Hannah is growing like a weed and regrettably starts school next year, and seems to be very anxious to do so. She has also recently been more than willing to scamper off to primary with a smile on her face instead of the usual kicking and screaming that I would usually have to endure as I passed her off to her teacher every Sunday at church.

You should follow me on Twitter.

Shane Observed

2010-01-11T21:42:00.010-06:00

(*Released in 1986)

I recently received the Communication Arts Advertising Annual, and have been working my way through it. Today I read an interesting "Creativity" article by Natalia Ilyin, who emailed several questions to Bill Hill (the creator of ClearType). One of his answers really stood out to me.

QUESTION

"Your blog's "Digital Declaration of Independence" asserts "every human has an equal anunalienable right to the means to create, distribute and consume information." And yet you are a big fan of Amazon's Kindle, which puts distribution into the hands of a very small group and reading only into hands that can afford a reader. How do you envision solving these problems?"

HILL: "I deliberately drew a parallel in theat "Declaration" with the United States Declaration of Independence. That asserted that all men were created equal and had certain fundamental rights, but it took more than 200 years before the U.S. could elect a black President."
"It was a great document, because the men who created it realized its purpose was to serve as a beacon. You can't climb the hill all at once—but someone has to stick a flag on the top and say: 'Here's where we have to go!'"
"The kindle is a transitional device. When the first pocket calculators appeared, they cost hundreds of dollars. Now you get one free when you fill up at Exxon. But Kindle is helping to drive digitization of hundreds of thousands of titles. It's 'good enough' for now, but devices need to get better and cheaper. We're not at the top of the hill yet, by a long way."

Now although I personally feel that, "electing a black President" is not the best example of where our "Declaration of Independence" has taken us (in fact I would go as far to say I feel we, as a country, are twisting and taking the Declaration of Independence in the opposite direction, that the writers intended. But that is off subject so I will refrain). I do understand the point he is trying to make. I really enjoyed his example of the calculator, and where that has taken us as far as technology and the digital revolution has come. I still have my fathers calculator which is a really old Texas Instruments calculator that is very simple compared to the calculators that are out now, but at the time my Father spent a nice chunk of money on this calculator. Now I'm interested in seeing if the Kindle is really that same starting point as far as digital reading devices are concerned.

Shane Recommends

2009-12-21T10:44:00.006-06:00

Here are the best things I came across on the infinite abyss I like to call the Interweb in 2009. If you pay any attention to my tweets or my "Net Worthy" section on the right side of my blog you most likely already saw all of these. Enjoy™

The Four Ways People Decide

Style VS. Design

Creating a Timeless User Experience

Goodbye, Google

The secrets of Google's design team

10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines

Can You Be a Web Designer?

Start-up Metrics that Matter by Dave McClure

Great Designs Should Be Experienced and Not Seen

Handcrafted CSS

Formula to Happiness

2009-12-19T21:26:00.014-06:00

THE PREFACE

Over the years I have learned the formula to achieving happiness. However just as in math knowing the formula is only half the battle. It's an entirely different story when you actually have to apply the formula to actually solving the real world problem (equation). I should know, seeing as how I always struggled in math class. The majority of the time I was able to completely understand how the formula worked, however I would always miss a step along the way. I wouldn't carry the negative sign, or I would go to fast and make careless mistakes which led to me coming up with the incorrect answer.

In my pursuit for happiness I often face the same problems with receiving the correct answer, which in this case is happiness. In other words, by me "claiming" to have the formula to happiness does not in any way mean that I am ALWAYS happy.

THE FORMULA

I firmly believe that ALL people regardless of race, color, religion, or nationality have a personal set of morals and ethics in which they set for themselves as a standard "code of conduct". For many people religion, culture, family, and other outside forces influence this moral code of standards. In many cases it is almost sub consciously imbedded into their system. Meaning that for the majority of people it takes a lot of soul searching before we are able to realize what ours is. This is the first obstacle in being able to find the answer in the equation of our own happiness. Up until the point where we are able to learn this moral and ethical code of conduct it remains the "x" in our formula.

CREATING ESCAPES

A lot of our lives are spent trying to figure this out. I call this soul searching process "escapes." What I mean by this is that we all find aspects of our lives that if we escape them it will equal happiness. Let me use a personal example as to what I mean by this. In the beginning of my mission for the LDS church in Brazil I went through some very difficult and frustrating times. I was in a foreign country without any family or friends. I didn't speak or comprehend the native language and I was 19 years old. So in the beginning I remember thinking, well once I know the language this will be easy and I will be happy. Once I learned the language I only became aware of more issues, and obstacles. So then I began to search for a new escape. I continued down this path until finally it dawned on me that none of those things bring happiness. In fact the absence of obstacles, stress, and tribulation does not equal happiness. Alot of times that is our first mistake. We see all of these stresses in our life, and we begin to think, if only I was able to rid myself of these stresses I would find myself FREE of stress thus resulting in happiness. This is a very destructive path, mainly because the only way anyone can experience growth and edification is through overcoming trials and obstacles in their lives, but that in itself can and should be reserved for it's own post.

MOVING FORWARD

Once we are able to comprehend that escaping what is bringing stress into our lives like, the lack of money, lack of friends, lack of family, lack of a job, etc... will bring about happiness. We are finally able to make some progress through this formula. We are then able to understand that only ONE person is in charge of our happiness. In fact only ONE "thing" is in charge of our happiness. We are the only ones who decide weather or not we are going to be happy. Regardless of circumstance happiness can be achieved. This does not mean to say that the pursuit to happiness is as easy for everyone, however "easy" or "hard" in itself is a relative term and is highly based on personal perception.

The only true way to find happiness is by living up to your own personal moral and ethical code of conduct inwhich we have all set for ourselves. Everyone's morals and ethics differ, so there is no RIGHT answer. However when you you don't meet your own expectations then you don't love yourself. If you don't love yourself you also are unable to comprehend or allow others to love you. Love is important because love is what brings about happiness. However when I use the word love I mean love in it's purest form. The love I speak of is synonymous with the word charity. So the best definition I can find is in the bible which says:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in ainiquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth

1 Corinthians 13

*I find it important to note, that in the Brazilian Bible they interpreted the word charity as the word love. Which is more proof as to how perhaps love and charity are really the same word, but their definitions have become lost in time by man.

IN CLOSING

Please note that at the time of writing this post I am only 29 years old, and in my meager 29 years of pursuing happiness this is what I have learned and began applying to my daily life. I always find when I am unhappy it is almost ALWAYS in direct relation to how well I am doing in meeting my own personal moral and ethical code of conduct. So by going through the necessary steps to repair my own relationship with myself through forgiveness I am able to once again be on the pathway to happiness once again. So please feel free to add your own beliefs that you have learned along your travails of life.

5 Simple Rules for Happiness

80 Percenter

2009-12-17T09:59:00.005-06:00

I've always thought of myself as an 80 percenter. I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent proficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession and degree of specialization that doesn't appeal to me.

— Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing, Founder and owner, Patagonia, Inc.

Related Article: A while back I wrote an article that talks about this philosophy. I wish I would of read this quote back then, it fits in perfectly to what I was attempting to say.

Still Fighting

2009-12-14T23:10:00.005-06:00

Sunday I was driving home from church and I was listening to Ben Folds Five and this song came on and it seemed to perfectly tell the story of my life and where I am right now, and my sentiments.

Good morning, son.
I am a bird
Wearing a brown polyester shirt
You want a coke?
Maybe some fries?
The roast beef combo's only $9.95
It's okay, you don't have to pay
I've got all the change
Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
Good morning, son
In twenty years from now
Maybe we'll both sit down and have a few beers COKES
And I can tell you 'bout today
And how I picked you up and everything changed
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
Everybody knows
It sucks to grow up
And everybody does

You'll try and try and one day you'll fly
Away from me
Good morning, son
I am a bird

And you're so much like me
I'm sorry

I edited it a bit, but included the song below for your listening pleasures.

As the years go along in my life I learn more and more about my faults, and how life is such a beautiful struggle and a constant battle between myself. Then I look into my children's eyes and their innocence, purity, and love radiates from within their young souls. I begin to think about the conversations we will have in the future when the innocence slowly wears thin, and the world begins to bring it's awful woes. When the storm clouds of reality begin to flood their life, and the bitterness that accountability will bring. The greatest advice ANYONE can give is that, "Everybody knows it hurts to grow up, but everybody does. The years go on and we're still fighting it."

Then I think about the conversations I wish I could have with my father at this episode of life. What advice and wisdom would he be able to give me over a coke and some fries? How much did his life change when he picked me up? Perhaps he would give the same advice as Ben Folds...

Keep the fight alive, and never give up... Endure to the end.

Enjoy™

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-12-10T11:36:00.004-06:00

Every night for almost a month I would read "Where the Wild Things Are" to Hannah before she went to bed. The entire time I was reading she would be busy playing with toys on her bed. I never thought she was paying attention, until one day I was in the middle of the book and she stopped playing and stood up on her bed and began reciting word for word the book from that point on. She knew what to say by what picture was on the page. It amazed me.

I haven't read the book to her in over a month, and the other night she went and grabbed it off of the book shelf and told me she wanted to read the book all by herself. I thought to myself there is no way she still has this book memorized.

Sure enough she has the entire book still memorized. So the next night I decided I wanted to make sure I got a record of this so when it came time for story time I grabbed Heather and asked her to come in a record the moment.

Pongo & the Slide

2009-11-25T22:19:00.003-06:00

Over a Bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup

2009-11-11T14:59:00.005-06:00

Just got an email from Heather that related this story:

Just now, over a bowl of chicken noodle soup, Hannah says to me, "I really wish I could have a baby in my tummy." (random yes) So I said to her, "Well, one day FAR off in the future when YOU are a mommy, you can have a baby in your tummy too."

So she gets this excited, puzzled, intrigued look on her face and says, "Wait... So I can have a baby in MY tummy?" and I said, "Yup that's right. Only mommies and girls can have babies in their tummy...daddies and boys can't."

So she looks at me with a DUH look on her face and goes, "Yeah, they just watch."

Which reminds me I REALLY need to start writing down more of what she says on a daily basis cause it is so hilarious, but sadly my mind is unable to hold onto it for much longer than a day.

Ruh Roh!

2009-10-27T22:36:00.005-05:00

Can you tell what I tried to carve in our pumpkin this year? I wasn't too happy with it, I was hoping it would turn out better. Hopefully I can do better next year.

Here's a picture of our pumkin in the light along with Hannah and her new pajamas. This was the first year I cleaned the pumpkin out all by myself and carved it. I let Hannah help me poke some holes as I outlined the stencil. She was a wonderful helper as always.

Your Problem Solved!

2009-10-05T09:43:00.013-05:00

On the 14th day of October the world was blessed (or cursed) with the presence of one Shane Michael Guymon. If by any chance you were having trouble figuring out what to buy a humble young boy from The Oak for such an occasion as spending 29 years on this old soil we like to call Earth then leave your worries behind. I have managed to put together a list of great gift ideas for such an occasion.

– Guarana (It's gotta be Antarctica)
– Word T-shirt (Extra Large)
– ISO50 Arbor T-shirt (Brown X-Large)
– iPhone
– Palm Pre™ (I do have sprint)
– iPod Touch (Thanks Matt, Ethan, & Mark!!!)
– iPod Nano (in red)
– Fogo De Chao Gift Card
– Air Jordan's XI, Air Jordan IV, Air Jordan V
– Night at the Movies
– Money
– A day with Mommy Guymon (or weekend)

Are You Color Blind?

2009-09-28T19:57:00.016-05:00

(The numeral "74" should be clearly visible to viewers with normal color vision. Viewers who are color blind may read it as "21", or may not see numbers at all.)

Hi, my name is Shane and I'm colored blind. I've known this for a number of years now, and have even openly discussed it with some people. I've noticed that a lot of people don't really understand what being color blind REALLY means. There are also a lot of people who are color blind and don't even realize it.

How do you know if you are color blind?

Well it definitely doesn't mean that you see the world as if you were watching a black & white TV. Usually what it means is that you are most likely male.

"About 5–8 percent of males, but less than 1 percent of females, are color blind in some way or another, whether it be one color, a color combination, or another mutation."

The most common form of color blindness is a color blindness to red and green. This doesn't mean that you are unable to see the color red, nor does it mean that you are unable to see the color green. However it does mean you are limited to the amount of tones of red and green you are able to see. It also means when red and green are on top of one another it is difficult to view a contrast between the two. There are three different degrees of this type of color blindness. I fit in the category of Deuteranopia:

"Deuteranopia (1% of males):Lacking the medium-wavelength cones, those affected are again unable to distinguish between colors in the green-yellow-red section of the spectrum. Their neutral point is at a slightly longer wavelength, 498 nm. The deuteranope suffers the same hue discrimination problems as the protanope, but without the abnormal dimming. The names red, orange, yellow, and green really mean very little to him aside from being different names that every one else around him seems to be able to agree on. Similarly, violet, lavender, purple, and blue, seem to be too many names to use logically for hues that all look alike to him. This is one of the rarer forms of colorblindness making up about 1% of the male population, also known as Daltonism after John Dalton. (Dalton's diagnosis was confirmed as deuteranopia in 1995, some 150 years after his death, by DNA analysis of his preserved eyeball.) Deuteranopic unilateral dichromats report that with only their deuteranopic eye open, they see wavelengths below the neutral point as blue and those above it as yellow."

Take a test to see if you are colorblind.

Why All This Color Blind Talk?

Well recently I saw a tweet with a link to this website, WeAreColorBlind.com. Which reminded me of my own colorblindness. So then after googling a couple resources I was wondering how many other people do I know that are also colorblind.

I remember in the 90's (I'm not sure what year exactly) these pictures like the one above became really popular. They were selling books, and framed posters all over the mall and in several different stores. I would go to the dentist and one would be hanging on the wall. Everywhere I went I was always surrounded by them. I always felt weird because I was one of the only people I knew who couldn't see anything but spots. Everyone else was seeing pictures pop out at them when they would stare at these millions of circles. As for me I never saw a thing. It wasn't until several years later when I was out of high school that I realized that those pictures were used for color blind tests. So the reason why I could never see any of the pictures was because I am colorblind.

For more info about color blindness check Wickipedia.

Represent

2009-09-23T09:44:00.005-05:00

When Heather and I found out she was pregnant we made a trip to the mall and stumbled into a Finish Line. We both came across this amazing outfit and immediately purchased it. We both knew it was going to be a boy from the very beginning.

Yesterday we realized that our once little boy who LOVES to eat and won't stop growing will probably fit into it.

(click on the photo to go to my Flickr account and view ALL of the photos we took)

For Sale

2009-09-02T15:40:00.008-05:00

living with a Graphic Designer can be a bit tough at times. As many of you have heard we're moving. So as we are cleaning out the apartment we have stumbled upon a few things that we feel deserve a new home (at a small price). So Heather sent me an email yesterday that said;

I want to make a sign and hang it up by the mail box so I can hopefully sell this stuff before we move.

Toastmaster rice cooker/steamer $5
Black cast iron skillet $5
Norelco electric shaver $10 (plug in model, not chargeable)
Box of infant through size 4-5 girl shoes (7 pair) $12
Suade King size comforter with king size pillow shams (tan color) $10
Glass crystal drink pitcher $10
Misc. dinnerware set (incomplete) $5

If you are interested in seeing any of these items please contact Heather or Shane @ 257-1868 or mamaguymon@gmail.com

She said she wanted me to just print her email out here at work because we don't have a printer at home. However being a Graphic Designer I can not physically allow myself to do that. So I asked her to take pictures of all the items she wanted to sell and email them to me. She didn't feel like participating in my madness & in turn released a deep sigh (in an email). So I told her when I got home I'd take the pictures on my own. Today I combined my pictures with the info she sent in the email and this is what you end up with.

Enjoy™

First Month

2009-09-01T10:27:00.006-05:00

I can't believe we are already one month into Connor's life. I think we are all finally starting to get to know one another. He has grown to LOVE his mother, and almost always wants to be near her. Heather has finally figured out the secret to getting him to sleep pretty much through the night (we hope). Hannah is really enjoying her role as "Big Sister" and I think I am finally getting back to some sort of a routine. To bad it is all going to start over come October when I turn another year older, move into our first house, a new ward, and a new side of town.

We made a trip to San Antonio last weekend and Connor decided to take a nap on his Uncle Ethan while we all hung out in the family room watching some cheesy Life Time movie with my mom.

Cannon Ball!

2009-09-01T09:35:00.002-05:00

Hannah has gotten a bit more brave in the last month. She now enjoys jumping into the pool and yelling "CANNON BAAAALLL!"

New House

2009-08-25T19:50:00.008-05:00

So for all of those who don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, earlier this month Heather decided she wanted to start looking for a house. I was a bit reluctant because of what happened the last time we decided to check it out. Initially we were pre approved for far more then we wanted to spend, we also got a really good percentage rate of 5.6%. Another great selling point was the fact that right now the government has a First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. So Heather decided to initially look at houses on her own especially since she is home during the day and I'm at work. Then once she found some she really liked she would have me go back and check them out later. So her first day out she found a house she fell in love with, she looked at a couple more the next day, but none of them stood out to her as much as the one from the first day.

So we went out and looked at the house together (on Friday Aug. 21st), and I also loved the house, so we decided to make an offer, and a couple hours later they accepted it!

We had the house inspected today, and the Inspector said the house is in terrific shape! The foundation is good, the air conditioner is 6 years old & in good shape, the water heater is 3 years old & also in good shape, and the roof is less than a year old. We took the opportunity to take some photos of the house to show it off!

11 Random Facts About Michael Guymon

2009-08-19T10:24:00.014-05:00

Eleven years ago today my Mom, my brother Ethan, and I gathered around my Mom's bed to say a prayer before we left for school. When the prayer was over the phone rang, and my Mom answered to hear that my father had rejected the machine that was helping him breath and had suffered a heart attack but they were able to revive him and asked that she come to the hospital. My mom hung up the phone and gave us the news, and asked if we wanted to go with her or go ahead and go to school. I had made up my mind a few weeks earlier that I wanted to have only memories of my father awake and alive. So I chose to go to school and Ethan chose to go with my mom.

My last memory of my father was right after I got back from a trip to Utah to visit my brother. While I was gone, my dad began having more trouble breathing on his own and had to return to the hospital. When I arrived he was awake and in good spirits, I stood beside his bed staring at him laying in an uncomfortable bed in a crowded room with nothing but a small white curtain to provide him with some privacy. His face was covered with a plastic oxygen mask, to which I said something to the sound of, "I'm surprised they were able to get one of those masks custom made to fit over your BIG nose."

And we all stood around and laughed. Shortly after that we had to leave, and my father told me not to worry about him, and that he would be fine. He said he was feeling better, and doing better. He gave me a hug to which if I concentrate I can still feel to this day, and told me that he loved me and took hold of my hand and stared me in my eye and told me how happy he was to see me, and how happy he was that I came to visit him. The very next day he took a turn for the worse and had to be forced into a coma and placed on a machine which breathed for him.

By the time I got to my second class of the day, which was Art class, I walked through the door and placed my back pack down on my desk and pulled my chair out and was about to sit down when a lady came over to me and said I needed to go with her. We walked back through the door to the bright sunlight and when the door shut on the other side stood John Durnford (who was my bishop at the time) who started out by saying, "Shane, I'm sorry but..." and I knew exactly what had happened. Before I left for school my mother told me she would call and let me know if anything else happened....

In memory of that day here are 11 Random Facts & Memories About My Father, Michael Guymon

1.) My father tried hard to stop drinking caffeine, but he had difficulty giving up Cherry Coke, which he drank in the form of a fountain drink in a black Texaco cup on a daily basis. He began referring to Cherry Coke as "Cherry Water", because throughout his campaign to stop drinking caffeine he also tried his hardest to rally the rest of us to join him. So when he saw me drinking a coke, or worse yet a Mountain Dew, he would give me a hard time. I would then ask, "What are you drinking?" and he would say, "Oh this... This is just cherry water."

2.) My dad was obsessed about us leaving lights on in the house. He was constantly circling the house turning off lights we left on and he would say, "If I had a nickel for every light you guys left on..."

3.) Almost every night you could find my dad roaming the house in his underwear and a flash light making his way to the air conditioner to make sure it was set to 80 degrees. Anytime it wasn't we would ALL have to hear about it the following morning. If you happened to be sleeping on the couch while he was on his way he would lean over and shine the flash light directly in your face asking, "Who is that... Oh it's you Shane!"

4.) My dad was VERY cold natured one of the reasons he chose to hang his hat in south Texas. So year round he would wear a jacket, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat.

5.) He refused to turn on the air conditioner in the car because he firmly believed that the air conditioner didn't function until the car was moving at a speed of 60 mph or higher. Boy was that fun when the entire family (8) piled into our Ford van for a trip in the middle of the Texas summer.

6.) Similar to Batman my dad wore what we all referred to as his "Utility Belt" which held just about anything and everything a normal person would NEVER need. Some of the items were a pocket knife, glasses, pens, keys, and who knows what else.

7.) Despite Michael Jordan's greatness next to his brother Jimmy, Jerry West remained the greatest player to ever throw a leather ball through a round metal rim.

8.) My first job was my dad paying me 2 cents a minute to tickle his head. It is looking like I might have to do that to finally get someone other than my Mom to tickle my back or head (thanks to Heather deceiving).

9.) Often times I had to make my dad a bowl of ice cream. The problem was my dad was very picky about his ice cream, and sometimes it would take me 3 or four times to get it right. He loved Bluebell chocolate ice cream covered in a lake of Hershey's chocolate syrup. However the ice cream had to be somewhat melted as well. So I would scoop the ice cream out, then pour chocolate syrup over it and carry it over to him to find out if I had enough chocolate syrup or not, and to see if the ice cream was melted enough.

10.) He had a recurring nightmare that he once shared with us, that he would be playing basketball and standing at the free throw line in the middle of a game with tons of fans in the crowd. He would throw the ball as hard as he could towards the basket and it would barely reach the dotted line in the middle of the paint.

11.) My dad was a very quiet guy. He mostly kept to himself. For example, when we would eat out as a family as soon as he was finished with his food he would head straight to the car to wait for us. Even at home, whenever we ate together as a family as soon as he was finished with his food, he would head straight back to his room, regardless if it was just the family, or if company was over eating with us. If we went to a wedding reception or other get together you could always find my dad sitting all alone in the corner out of site.

Two Weeks: Grizzly Bear

2009-08-12T23:12:00.006-05:00

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

Beautiful music, and an amazing video. What is more amazing is the fact that this isn't even the actual video.

"This is a fan video I've been working on for a few months now. Not to be confused with the official music video which is really cool. Hope you like it."

Here's the actual music video for a comparison.

A Few Movies I'm Looking Forward to Hitting My Local Theaters

2009-08-09T15:25:00.028-05:00

Alice In Wonderland

Because I LOVE Tim Burton's vision on movies, I've always been a fan of the original Disney cartoon, and beyond that it flat out looks DOPE!

District 9

I'm a sucker for Sci-Fi alien movies, I'm sorry I just am...

Holmes

Ever since I saw "Johnny Be Good" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" I've been a fan of Robert Downey Jr. I'm also a sucker for detective movies, and it's Sherlock Holmes.

The Book of Eli

I do my best to watch any movie Denzel Washington is in, so you combine that with my obsession with movies about the future, and well you got a giddy little boy inside of Shane that is dieing for this to hit the big screen.

Where the Wild Things Are

About a month before I found out that they were even making a movie, Heather bought Hannah this book, and for about a month straight without fail Hannah asked me to read that book to her before she went to bed. While reading the book Hannah would sit on her bed and play with toys and it always seems like I was reading it to myself. Until one night randomly she started just blurting out word for word what was written on the page as I was reading. She had pretty much memorized the entire book word for word (let that be a lesson, even when you think kids aren't paying any attention THEY ARE). I just started cracking up. This movie hits theaters right around my 29th birthday, so I told Hannah me and her would go see this on the BIG screen for my birthday, and she is super excited, as am I.

Despicable Me

I just like animated movies.

The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard.

Jeremy Piven is a pretty funny dude, plus the every time I see the trailer I just start cracking up throughout the entire thing.

Inglourious Basterds

I'm not a HUGE fan of Quentin Tarantino (the only movies I've liked of his are: Kill Bill 1 & 2, Jackie Brown, Sin City, & Grindhouse), but I am a HUGE fan of Brad Pitt, and do my best to see any movie he is in. Based off of the trailer, this movie looks funny, quirky, bloody, & AWESOME!

Tron Legacy

It's Disney, about the future, & animated.

Brothers

Because I like Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire, & Jake Gyllenhaal.

Stop following directions and start designing

2009-08-08T00:40:00.003-05:00

"Of course it is totally understandable to take the ideas of those that pay our bills as gospel. But we should also be reminded that those same people hired us for our expertise. If they just wanted someone to follow orders, they’d probably have hired someone else."

Read the entire article.

Her Morning Elegance

2009-08-04T10:03:00.004-05:00

Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance
by IgnitionVM

One of the better music videos I have seen in a long time, the song isn't too hard on the ears either.

Hannah Can Swim

2009-08-03T10:17:00.003-05:00

Hannah finally got brave enough to swim around in the pool with a flotation device, which was REALLY exciting for us, because I really want her to learn how to swim with as much time as we spend in the pool during the summer.

Connor Michael Guymon

2009-07-29T23:17:00.007-05:00

Connor Michael Guymon was born at 12:09pm weighing in at 8 pounds and 1 ounce and measuring 20 inches. He has a full head of hair no chin and what seems to be the first appearances of the Guymon nose.

Click here to view ALL of the photos

Here's the story:

Heather emailed me at work around 4:45pm on Tuesday July 28th letting me know that she talked to her doctor who set her up to be induced at 6:00am on Wed July 29th. Just as I was finishing up my projects for the day and sending out an email informing everyone that I wouldn't be there tomorrow. I got a phone call from Heather telling me she would really like to go eat at Chili's one last time as a family of a one child household. Ten to fifteen minutes later at 6:00pm I get a phone call where Heather said, "Change of plans, my water just broke I need you home NOW!"

So off I went, I got there and Lyndsee Bates was nice enough to take Hannah for the night, and the majority of the next day. So I had enough time to grab a few things and throw them in a bag and give Hannah a few hugs goodbye.

Then off Heather and I went to the hospital, we got there at like 7:00pm. They ran a check to make sure that her water did REALLY break, after the test came back positive, they began hooking Heather up to everything and getting her prepped and ready to have a baby. She was already having small contractions regularly and was already dilated to 3 and a half centimeters. So the doctor chose to just let her go and see how everything developed.

The first plan of action was to make a decision about putting Heather on petocin to speed up the contraction & labor process or not. That was supposed to be done at 11:00, but actually didn't happen until an hour or so later. They didn't end up putting her on petocin until 4:00am when although her contractions were getting worse she wasn't really progressing as far as being dilated or any closer to being able to actually push.

So we sat and waited and waited and waited... Lucky for us Heather's BFF Heidi Fling made the courageous voyage from San Antonio to help entertain Heather.

They started the petocin at a very slow drip, and so nothing really progressed although her contractions got closer and closer together and more intense. Heather said they were at a 5 on the pain scale, but she never appeared to be in pain, only said it was uncomfortable. So she asked for an epidural, but that wasn't until almost 10:30am on July 29th. Which was over 16 hours of labor. Heather was super happy and content with her epidural, and everything was much more calm and relaxing then. About an hour later Heather started saying she was feeling some pressure during each contraction, and thought maybe Connor was finally starting to move down. So she told the nurse, who didn't ever actually check her in anyway, but rather said, "Well let me know when it is a lot of pressure."

Thirty minutes later the nurse and the doctor came into the room to check to see if Heather was any farther dialated, and when the doctor lifted up the blanket Connor's head was sticking out already. The doctor said, "Whoa you are having a baby, DON'T MOVE, BREATH, LAUGH, TALK, or ANYTHING!" He ran out of the room pulled in his tools and everything sat down, and Connor immediately fell out, and Heidi was nice enough to cut the chord for us, and off he went to the sidelines to get measured, and cleaned. I began snapping photos and enjoying the moment, and thanking heavenly Father for blessing us with a beautiful healthy baby boy!

IQ font = Awesome

2009-07-21T18:01:00.004-05:00

"When a car inspires a font to a group of designers, the result, as you can see above, is necessarily surprising.

Check out the website
Download the font
Enjoy™

4th of July

2009-07-06T09:55:00.005-05:00

We made the hop, skip, & jump on down to San Antonio to meet up with Mom (Grandma), Mark, Maile, Marissa, Michaela, Matt, & Ethan for some good ol' family FUN time! I made sure to remember our camera and even better I actually captured some great memories.

Other than Ethan grilling up some killer steaks, making a trip to Walmart, and a bargain hunting trip to Big Lots with Mark it was just good ol family time spent indoors. We did try to make a trip to the park but the girls only lasted about 20 minutes. After 5 minutes they were asking to leave saying, "It's hot & we've been here for FOREVER!"

Enjoy™

Hide & Seek

2009-07-02T12:19:00.002-05:00

Good, Great, Greatest

2009-06-12T11:22:00.025-05:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what goes into being good, great, or greatest at something. So I came up with a few ideas. The tricky part with this is how the words, "good", "great", & "greatest" are very relative in their definition. What I mean by that is, the definition of all of these will vary dependent on the person and their given experience with whatever they are applying the word to. You also have to apply the element of opposition, you can only know sweet by also knowing bitter, but then your degree of what you consider sweet will vary dependent on the amount of sweetness you have experienced. So yeah, this is a pretty complicated subject as you can see, but let's just take this little journey, and feel free to chime in with your comments and we will see if we can come up with something memorable in the end.

GOOD:

To be good at something I feel that you first need to learn the fundamental aspects of that something. As an example let's use basketball, although this can be applied to almost anything. So to be a good basketball player first you must learn the fundamentals of the game. Once you have a solid comprehension of the fundamentals I feel you are well on your way to being good. The next step is to actually practice, and by practicing you slowly begin to make progress. The more you practice the better you become.

GREAT:

To be considered GREAT, I feel you need to not only have a solid foundation of the fundamental aspects that govern whatever you are striving to be great at, but you also need to have an added degree of focus. This focus involves a higher degree of practice. You also must begin to find people who are already great or even greatest and begin to emulate them. I remember as a kid I began trying to play like my favorite basketball players, as well as my older brother. I would see him (or them) do different moves and then start practicing them. Gatorade didn't chose to use "I Wanna Be Like Mike" as their marketing campaign for no reason you know? Thats also why people wear "WWJD" wristbands as well. Trying to emulate Jesus is never a bad thing.

Even applying this to web design, I am always looking at the people who I feel are great or even greatest and then I try to emulate them not as people, but as designers.

GREATEST:

I think to get to the greatest category it comes down to your level of commitment, focus, and most importantly the details. The majority of guys you see in professional sports or the Olympics eat, sleep, and drink their sport. Just look at how hard Michael Phelps trains for example:

"Bowman actually started training Michael Phelps when the Phelps was still 11 years old. He pushed Phelps to swim at least 50 miles each week. According to him, kids at that age, is able to increase the size of their hearts and lungs in ways that no longer possible later on. The larger the heart and lungs, the bigger the aerobic engine. Phelps has been training almost 5 hours a day and 7 days a week without any rest day. Bowman admitted that he has trained the star to the extent that Phelps has little time or energy left at the end of the day for anything except to eat, sleep or occasionally watch the television. Phelps has to swim on his birthdays and Christmas too. He probably has missed some of the things he should have enjoyed at his age, but he has probably gained much than what he has missed. By the way, Bowman was a college swimmer before he became coach and he has a degree in child psychology. That helps, I guess.
Click here for the full article

The thing to be worried about when you are looking to be in the greatest category to me, is you really need to think about your priorities in life. In all reality the only things I want to be greatest in are being a father, & a husband. When you chose something like a vocation to be greatest in, you really are sacrificing a lot of other aspects of your life in order to become greatest. Most insanely successful individuals go through countless divorces, and have poor relationships with their children and family. It's all due to the amount of focus and commitment you have to have to reach the level of greatest.

If your vocation, sport, or hobby is that important to you, then I suppose it is all worth it. To me I would much rather be considered the GREATEST dad, or the GREATEST husband. So to do so, I believe I have to stay focused on what it is that makes a person the greatest dad, or husband.

CLOSING REMARKS

That is why I am more than happy with simply being great at designing websites, or basketball for that matter (if I can even be considered great that is). I am not saying that ALL people who are in this greatest category don't have great relationships with their families. I'm also just not confident that you can truly be greatest at more than one thing. Perhaps this only applies to me, and my capacities.

I do feel like in regards to web design I am at that stage where I am constantly trying to analyze what makes other web designers great. I have also changed the way I look at the world in general. When I go to the grocery store I am constantly looking at package designs, posters, and displays for different aesthetic aspects, and how effective they are. When I drive down the road I pay close attention to each and every billboard, as I sit in the mall while Hannah is playing I sit and stare at the Dillards logo and get irritated by the poor kerning of the letters. When I watch TV I pay very close attention to most commercials and the little details involved such as the fonts used, colors, music, camera angles, cinematography, and more. Similar things happen to me when I watch a movie, even my basketball watching experience has changed since I now over analyze the graphics on the screen. How they display the score and other statistics throughout the game. I flip through magazines not only to read the articles, but also to enjoy the layout and graphical elements of the magazine in general. I try to figure out what type of grid was used in the design of the magazine. There are countless other ways that my attempts to become a better designer has changed the entire way I see and interact with the world. Like I said, that to me is the only way to become great at it.

I am also constantly looking at web galleries, and almost stalking each and every web designer I feel are some of the best in the world. I visit their blogs on almost a daily basis. I subscribe to different design related magazines and do my best to read them from cover to cover.

I just hope I never allow myself to focus more on design, or basketball than I do my daughter, soon to arrive son, and wife. I think back to my youth, and how I did similar things in regards to basketball. My junior year I began shooting at least 100 three pointers a day, as well as 50 free throws. If I would of known what I know now, I probably would of gone the extreme route of Michael Phelps, because at that time in my life basketball and being successful was almost everything to me. At least I told myself that, I didn't have the focus and work ethic to quite back it up. I think many times people want to be great so bad, but don't want to actually put in the work necessary to obtain it. Mostly because they see someone that is already at that level, and don't pay close enough attention to see what that person actually did to get to that point. They just see their fame, money, & talent and covet it.

What are your thoughts?

Growing Up

2009-06-10T12:12:00.003-05:00

Heather took Hannah to get her picture taken. I decided to go back into the archive to see the change from last year to this year. My little girl is getting all growed up on me...

It's just sad as a parent you have to just sit back and slowly watch the innocence and purity of a child slowly get stripped away as they get pulled away into the beautiful struggle that is life and our pursuit to find happiness.

Celebrating Four Years of Life!

2009-06-08T09:33:00.008-05:00

Back on Saturday May 23rd we had a swim party for Hannah. I made a website to send out as our invite, which I thought was a good idea. It was a way I could flex my design muscles at the world, and also what I felt was a conveniently simple way to both spread the word and allow people to have a constant reference to go refer to. We placed a "wish list" on their with links to the actual product or examples for the many times we get asked, "What does Hannah want for her birthday?" We also placed a very simple contact form to allow us to get a head count so we knew how much cake and drinks to supply.

The website didn't seem to help with ANY of these things. Perhaps we sent it out too early, and maybe we should of shot out a second email blast as the date got closer, but then we didn't want to seem like we were BEGGING people to come. Some people showed up that didn't email (which we were still VERY happy you came!). Others emailed and didn't show up. Everyone still asked the inevitable question, "What does Hannah want?" Oh well it was alot of fun to design, and I mainly did it for myself anyways.

The party was a HUGE success, not everyone showed up that we had hoped would be there (Grand Dad, Nana, Jacob, Caleb, Matt (Heather's brother), Kari, Mark, Maile, Marrissa, & Michaela, Emily, Seth, & Asher) but everyone that did show up seemed to have a good time, and Hannah had a blast. We appreciated ALL of the presents, and the wonderful conversations and company. Hannah is still talking about her party!

So I know it's late, but I finally got around to uploading ALL of the photos from the party so click on over to check them all out!

Bing?

2009-06-03T16:03:00.006-05:00

There are plenty of other blogs and sources critiquing the functionality and efficacy of Bing, so what truly brings us all here today is the sad, awful, unforgivable mutilation that has been done to these four poor letters of the Latin alphabet.
—By Armin

TypeKit

2009-05-29T17:10:00.002-05:00

As a Typekit user, you’ll have access to our library of high-quality fonts. Just add a line of JavaScript to your markup, tell us what fonts you want to use, and then craft your pages the way you always have. Except now you’ll be able to use real fonts. This really is going to change web design.
—Introducing Typekit

Now this sounds VERY promising, something I am VERY excited about!

Don't Chase Money

2009-05-21T20:03:00.007-05:00

"Don't go after clients because of the money. Be sure the client fits your culture. Angelo says, (of David&Goliath) "We look at our client partners as an integral part of the brand. They're as much a part of our place as anyone here."

words by: Julie Prendiville Roux in an article published in the Communication Arts Interactive Annual 15

I don't think anyones primary goal in business or in life should be money. When you REALLY think about it, everyones primary goal in life is to be happy, so why not make that your primary goal in business as well. If you are thinking, "money will make me happy." Well that is a sad and slippery slope to be on, because you will never make enough money for that to REALLY happen.

Which is the fastest browser?

2009-05-19T11:25:00.009-05:00

The tables and charts on these pages are compiled from thousands of Peacekeeper results from users all around the world. The figures are updated as new results come in. The table below shows how the five major browsers score in Peacekeeper. For each browser we show you the results from the current release and the latest beta build. Most people will be better off using the stable release but there are always people, like us, who have to have the latest of everything.

Yet another reason why not to use Internet Explorer. Make the switch to a better, faster, & more efficient browser today! Don't be fooled by merely upgrading to Internet Explorer 8, because Internet Explorer isn't keeping up with the rest of the browsers out there, so although IE8 may be somewhat better than IE6 or IE7, it still flat out SUCKS when compared to the competition.

If you are using a PC I would suggest switching to Google Chrome or Firefox. If you are using a Mac, just stick with Safari, although I seriously doubt anyone using a mac is actually using Internet Explorer for anything but testing. If you haven't upgraded to Safari 4, you might want to check it out though.

FUNday!

2009-05-08T08:44:00.005-05:00

Perhaps you have either seen me write this on my Facebook status, or you might follow me on twitter. Either way I've been getting a lot of people interested in this whole FUNday and what it is all about. You see back when I was in highschool I always remembered Fridays being this special day, you had TGIF on television when you got home from school, often times in elementary school Fridays were reserved for watching a movie, and you also got to look forward to a fun filled weekend in which Friday was the day to kick start it all off. Since graduating from school Fridays slowley become just another day. So when I moved here to Austin, I decided to make Fridays special again. It all started with me just casually greeting my friends at Practice Cafe with a "Happy FUNday" as aposed to the usual "Good Morning."

That slowly has evolved into me finding new ways to set Friday apart from the rest of the days and make them FUN. My favorite color is red, so I started wearing red sox, and a red shirt to help set the mood, with only a few exceptions I have also worn a pair of red shoes to work as well. I'm also a huge fan of fountain drinks, so I usually will try to run by the gas station and pick up a cold refreshing cup of goodness on my way to work. While at work I always try to stay focused on making it a FUNday. Many times that means listening to some FUN songs while I work, doing something different for lunch, or tuning into Layer Tennis when it is going on.

So I would love to invite each of you to also join the movement. This doesn't mean to adopt my same exact practices, but instead just find the little things you can do to help boost your mood and set the day apart. For me it's the color red and a fountain drink, most likely for you it is something else.

Happy FUNday!

Summer Fun in the Sun!

2009-05-07T11:22:00.008-05:00

May 4th I got home from work and noticed 1.) Hannah & Heather were outside playing 2.) There were an abundance of kids swimming in the pool. So I said, what the heck, and asked Hannah if she wanted to go see how cold the water was. So we ran over there and I thought the water was still a tad bit cold for my taste, but Hannah was loving it. So we ran inside and threw on her brand new bathing suite. So that has officially kicked off our Summer fun in the sun!

Above is actually a video I took on May 5th, which was actually our second and longer day swimming (which was also the day I actually remembered to grab my camera).

Click your way over to my Flickr page if you'd like to view more fun photos of Hannah in the pool.

Space Walking

First I thought she was doing some sort of an interpretive dance, but later she informed us that she was "space walking"

Enjoy™

Lessons of the Heart

2009-04-23T21:30:00.003-05:00

Oh when the wild was all covered by snow,
I forgot the colours that the grass tend to grow.
Oh the trees were all leafless,
And lifeless and black,
And I wondered if the leaves could grow back

For your heart is like a flower as it grows,
And its the rain, not just the sun that helps it bloom,
And you don't know how it feels to be alive,
Until you know how it feels to die

The lyrics of Noah and the Whale are so good, I always enjoy to constantly be reminded that life is about both the good and the bad, and that we must have the bad to know the good. The bitter to appreciate the sweet and so forth.

The Beauty of Forgiveness

2009-04-15T00:33:00.006-05:00

The beautiful thing about forgiveness is that it can be given freely to all without asking anything in return. Forgiveness does not demand an apology from an offender, it doesn't require justice to be served, nor does it require forgiveness to be reciprocated. When we forgive ourselves as well as others who may have offended us or wronged us we are able to make the first steps to becoming happy.

James E. Faust said:

“Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves.”

"Most of us need time to work through pain and loss. We can find all manner of reasons for postponing forgiveness. One of these reasons is waiting for the wrongdoers to repent before we forgive them. Yet such a delay causes us to forfeit the peace and happiness that could be ours. The folly of rehashing long-past hurts does not bring happiness."

In order to forgive ourselves and others we must become humble, and selfless (un-selfish). One of the best tools I have learned in the forgiving process is to apologize even when you don't feel as though you need to apologize.

It is funny to me that through becoming selfless we are truly able to find ourselves. This being a difficult process by the very nature of man. I believe C. S. Lewis said it better than I when he said:

“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first—wanting to be the centre—wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake. . . . What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come . . . the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

I began to first comprehend this concept during my time in brazil, but it didn't truly sink in until I locked eyes for the very first time with my daughter, and it only has been magnified during the past 3 (almost 4) years of her life. Dallin H. Oaks expressed it recently in a talk he gave about "Unselfish Service" where he said;

"...the sacrifice parents make for their children. Mothers suffer pain and loss of personal priorities and comforts to bear and rear each child. Fathers adjust their lives and priorities to support a family."

I recently tweeted, "Unselfishness is the pathway to happiness." while listening to Dallin H. Oaks talk I began to connect the dots where forgiveness and unselfishness are interwoven and connected. Whereby you can not forgive yourself or another without being unselfish, likewise you can not be unselfish without forgiving yourself and others.

I believe the one single emotion we all strive for in this life is happiness. Sadly the majority of us fall into the natural trap that C.S. Lewis described as being "the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."

Enjoying the Sound

2009-04-07T14:14:00.006-05:00

Lately I've been listening to Noah and the Whale both at work and in my car. Hannah is even a fan, requesting we keep the song below on constant repeat while strolling down the ave. Their music reminds me of a Wes Anderson film, which is basically me saying it's good!

"On the surface the name Noah and the Whale seems to be a mashup of biblical stories. In reality it’s an homage to Noah Baumbach’s film The Squid and the Whale. If you only listen to Noah and the Whale’s single “5 Years Time” you’ll think they were a sunny quirk-pop group. In reality their music is a tasty cake made from many ingredients, from twee to shoegaze. What’s that old expression about judging a book by something?"

here's the full story

Enjoy™

Dr. Appointment

2009-03-30T09:09:00.003-05:00

She was wearing a pink toy stethoscope around her neck as she looked straight at me with her blue eyes and said, "Don't call me Hannah, call me Dr. Appointment."

SXSW Interactive: Day One

2009-03-13T23:38:00.011-05:00

Well I left work around 12:30 and had to deposit my paycheck and then headed downtown to the Austin Convention Center (ACC). It took me awhile to find a place to park, and walk to the ACC. I walked and chatted with two guys who flew in from Australia, and would of stuck around with them if it wasn't for the fact that I still needed to check in and get my badge. So there was this HUGE virtually endless line that I had to get into. Two hours later I had my badge and my bag of swag and was on my way to my very first panel (what should of been my second) "Oooh, That's Clever! (Unnatural Experiments in Web Design)" by Paul Annett of Clearleft Ltd.
Paul gave a very entertaining and inspirational presentation. He started out by showing a video he made and posted on YouTube (as seen below)

He froze paused it and showed a clip that caught a lot of peoples attention of a part in the trick where it appears that he is holding two cards in one hand (when he should be holding one). So people began to feel like they figured out the trick and knew this little secreat.

He then compared that to little secrets in design such as "the arrow" in the "FedEx" logo (in the white space created in between the "E" & "X").
His next example was how his company Clear Left threw up this landing page for an idea they had for some software called Silverback. If you resize your browser window on their site, you will notice an interesting 3-D effect with the vines. This small little detail (that most people would never noticed) caught the attention of a few web designers who twittered about it and in one day their site received over 20,000 hits and half of the people signed up to receive updates. All this happened before they even had an actual product.

He then went on to show a ton of other examples of small little hidden gems people place on their websites that when found become these little secrets that people can't help but brag about knowing and spread the word.

My second and last panel of the day was AWESOME! It was a panel by Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter+Bogusky (they are the advertising firm behind such things as "The Truth" campaign, Burger King ads, Volkswagen, & Mini) called, "Plan B: Can an Ad Guy Bring Bike Sharing to America?" It was kicked off with a FREE red or blue T-shirt that were passed out right before he grabbed the mic.
So he started out by talking about his company and how they are different from other advertising companies. how many offices & employees they have, and went through different solutions they came up with for companies. He started with "The Truth" campaign and how up until that point whenever people would market or advertise to kids negatively about cigarettes they would focus on 2 things, "They are un healthy" and "Gross." After questioning their target market they started to realize taht the youth didn't care if cigarrettes can kill you, and they didn't think they were gross. So they had to had to convince these people to take a different approach without actually proving to them that their idea would REALLY work. The main theme of his presentation was, "Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

The meat of his panel consisted of him telling us how the idea of bringing "Bike Sharing" to the US came about, and how it was very humble beginnings, and how after just talking and throwing out ideas with different people, that lead to getting in contact with someone else who lead to another person and now they have started the program in 4-6 cities as B-Cycle.

Two of the more interesting things Alex Bogusky said came in the question & answer portion after he was done with his presentation. Someone asked where he felt marketing was headed in the future. He then candidly said, "I have no clue." He went on to say that back in the day people were telling him that in 5-10 years there would be NO MAGAZINES (something I still here today) and that VHS was going to take over, because people would much rather watch something that read it. Here we are in 2009 and although magazine subscriptions are declining, they are still very much around, with brand new magazines still popping up all the time. Anyways he then said something that was right in line with my personal philosophy not only on marketing/advertising but also life which is, "I only look 15 minutes into the future."

Because in all reality it is virtually impossible to try and predict what is going to be happening in 5-10 years. There are far too many variables involved in these types of things. I mean for all we know Global Warming is going to swallow us all up in 5 years and there won't be ANY marketing at all...

Anyways I always try to stay grounded in the present. I don't want to spend my life looking in the past at, "what could of been." Nor do I want to look too far into the future at, "what could be waiting for me in the future." But rather I would like to just enjoy TODAY (I could go on and on with this subject so I will stop now).

The other thing he said was an interesting quote,

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

So that was day one of SXSWi (south by southwest interactive). I'm looking forward to a full day tomorrow jam packed with some potentially inspiring panels as well.

Why Mormons Build Temples

2009-03-12T17:40:00.003-05:00

"Throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. Temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where individuals make sacred promises with God."

Comcast Goes Juno

2009-03-08T18:39:00.012-05:00

Comcast went all Juno on us in their newest advertsing campaign, by singing parodies of a quirky little song by Kimya Dawson called "Loose Lips" (I was going to post the song here, but the last verse isn't very family friendly. They edited the song in the movie, and I really wish I could find THAT version somewhere, but click on the link and it will send you to the song if you want to hear it.) from the movie Juno and I like it. Not like it matters since we live in Time Warner land and don't have the option of having Comcast, I do enjoy watching their commercials, BUT I sure do miss The Slowskys.

The Dr. Sees a Penis!

2009-03-07T11:23:00.004-06:00

Well the doctor is saying she is able to see two testicles and a penis in this very photo above. I never saw it, but I'll take her word for it. Besides I have already had an overwhelming feeling that it was a boy the entire time.

In this picture is where you can actually see a 3-D modeling of the entire little baby!

Proud

2009-03-05T23:37:00.017-06:00

When I first got hired on as a designer with the wonderful team over at Practice Cafe I'm not even sure their website showed up in a "Google Search" for anything BUT a search for "Practice Cafe." Well a little short into a year of working their I was privledged to be able to take on the hefty job of redesigning their website. Well two more redesigns later and it is the beautiful site that I LOVE to inform people that I was a part of producing is now on the infinite abyss we all call the interweb (or is that just me?).

Well it quickly became a business goal to get ourselves ranked as high as possible in Google for a number of relevant searches. The main one being "Dental Marketing." So we set out a little over a year ago to improve our ranking in "Dental Marketing." So I dove in head first at researching "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO), and best practices in improving your ranking in Google. I quickly realized this was a very tricky little task. There is no solid formula or solid answer. Infact the more time went on it was almost as if, right when I got to the point where I was saying, "Hey I think I got a handle on this SEO business" I would quickly get a reality check of how much I DIDN'T know.

However with the help of a WONDERFUL team of copywriters in Angie Liddiard & Amanda Fuller, and some helpful hints and tricks from my good friend Noel Datko, we have successfully been able to implement a lot of tender love and care over the months and successfully reached page one in google in a handful of relevant and very competitive searches. In fact our visitors to our site per day has doubled if not tripled since I started working back in November of 2006.

So as you can see from the beautiful screen capture above we are currently residing in the NUMBER 5 out of 9,120,000 in a Google Search for the term "Dental Marketing."

Click the picture above for an enlarged image, or you can just go ahead and do a quick Google Search yourself right now for "Dental Marketing" and take a VERY short scroll on down to "Practice Cafe" and go ahead and click your way over to Practice Cafe to see how we are VERY capable at handling any and all of your Dental Marketing needs (ZING!)

Although I still feel like an amateur when it comes to SEO, I am also very happy and proud that all of our work over the year has REALLY paid off. So I am anxious to continue to learn, grow, and develop these skills and to continue to improve both Practice Cafe's website and the websites of all our clients. Each and every year the internet is becoming more and more important when it comes to a marketing budget, and how people want to market their company or business, and search engine optimization will continue to play a HUGE roll in the future of marketing in the world. So we are happy to be a part of this.

Keywords and Terms Practice Cafe ranks well in:

Dental Marketing: Page 1 – #5
Dental Practice Marketing: Page 1 – #10
Dental Marketing Services: Page 1 – #3
Dental Marketing Companies: Page 1 – #2
Dental Marketing for Less: Page 1 – #5
Professional Dental Marketing: Page 1 – #10
Dental Marketing Firms: Page 1 – #5
Dental Marketing Postcards: Page 1 – #5
Custom Dental Marketing: Page 1 – #2
Affordable Dental Marketing: Page 1 – #1
Dental Office Marketing Budget: Page 2 – #5
Dental Marketing Campaign: Page 2 – #1
Dental Logos: Page 2 – #7

Howm I Gon Get Clean!

2009-03-04T22:31:00.003-06:00

Heather was gone at church for a youth activity. Hannah and I were watching "The Wonder Pets" when Hannah jumped up and said, "I need to take a bath!"

So I told her to hold on a second, so then she said, "I'm dirty..."

Then that turned into, "I'm dirty, dirty, dirty! Howm I gon get clean..." Over and over again bouncing around the house dancing.

So I grabbed the camera and I said, "Ok, if you sing your song for me into the camera then I will let you take a bath."

The song changed a little but it was still cute! Once the camera got turned on she forgot the, "Howm I gon get clean" part so she just hummed that part and decided to add on a few more words as she ran around the table and room.

Sincere Sounds for the Soul

2009-03-02T23:27:00.007-06:00

Lately I've been tickling my eardrums with the sincere sounds of Jason Mraz. One of my favorite songs of the album is "I'm Yours" take it for a spin with the music player below. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

SXSW Interactive: 2009

2009-02-28T20:18:00.004-06:00

For the past 4-5 years I've been wanting to go to SXSW Interactive (music and film as well...) but have never been able to afford the $495 to pay for the "badge." Lucky for me this year my wonderful boss Brian Liddiard was nice enough to pay my way as an opportunity for some continuing education to help improve my own person skill set as well as the companies reputua.

I am pretty excited to say the least. I'm really hoping to be able to run into a few people I've been following for the last 4-5 years (eh humm).

So for the past two days I've been spending some time going through the schedule and trying to figure out which aspects of the conference I want to make sure I don't miss. So if there is any chance that anyone else out there reading this is going let me know which things you are excited about seeing.

Giraffe Shirt Update

2009-02-27T21:41:00.003-06:00

Well I think I gave everyone a fair amount of time to respond. So by my calculations I only got 7 people (counting Me, Heather, & Hannah) who said they would buy a shirt. Which puts me pretty far away from the 25 people I needed. So it looks like my dreams of making shirts will have to go back onto the shelf for now.

Thanks for everyone who got back in touch with me.

Giraffe Shirt

2009-02-21T19:36:00.006-06:00

I'm really interested in getting a shirt that I designed a couple years ago produced. A couple years ago I tried submitting it to threadless, but it didn't survive the voting round. That was my most economical route to go, and a couple years ago I went through this period where I was dead set on getting a shirt onto threadless, because then it doesn't cost me anything, and I have a chance to have a ton of people also wearing my shirt. After a few rounds of getting denied over and over again I finally through in the towel.

Now I am trying to revive my love for designing my own shirts, but I need your help. So I am wondering how many people out there want a super dope "Giraffe Shirt." The minimum I have to have produced is 25 before I can have the shirts produced. I don't have enough money to front to have the 25 shirts produced with just the hope of selling them off and making my money back.

So here we are, can I find 25 people that would love to wear a giraffe shirt as much as I would? If a giraffe isn't good enough take a looksie at what other graphic t-shirts I have cooked up.

COST: $8.00 or $10.00 (plus shipping)

Harvey Danger: Little By Little

2009-02-18T16:55:00.006-06:00

Psych had a special Friday the 13th episode on Friday the 13th. Where they played off of the old Friday the 13th movies, which was GREAT. During the episode they played a song that was familiar to me, but I couldn't recall who sang it or what the song was called. So I asked my friend Amanda (who works with me) if she knew who sang the song that went like this, “Paranoia, Paranoia they’re coming to get me...” So she said it was a Harvey Danger song called Flagpole Sitta. So I did a quick Google search and come to find out they have a relatively new album, and this what their website is saying:

"We are offering the entirety of our third album, Little by Little..., as a free download** (if you're curious why we're doing this, you can read our reasons here)."

(**Click on the title to head on over to their website for the FREE download).

Bloc Party

2009-02-16T19:40:00.002-06:00

Bloc Party, 'This Modern Love' - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

I first heard about Bloc Party while perusing VIRB's music section one day. I have one of their CD's, and REALLY like it. I thought this video was pretty cool, how they just sing one of their songs right outside of a bar on the spur of the moment in the street.

Enjoy™

Yet Another Reason to Hate Internet Explorer

2009-02-14T20:20:00.006-06:00

Just when you thought Internet Explorer was going to finally do something right, they go and do THIS, and totally redeem themselves...

A year ago Microsoft announced (through A List Apart) that standards compliant websites would be forced to opt into a standards rendering mode in IE8. The uproar from the web standards community was loud and clear: the default should always be render in standards compliancy mode. Microsoft backed down.

So it is with considerable surprise and anger to read that Microsoft has quietly gone back to their original position. The gist of it is if you want to be sure your site renders in standards compliant mode in IE, you have to explicitly opt into it. Otherwise you risk being blacklisted and thrown into IE7 Compatibility mode.

The danger here is that Microsoft don't seem to be collecting the reason behind why a visitor clicked on Compatibility View. So a couple of hundred curious people seeing if the Web Standards Project website works in IE7 Compatibility mode might be enough to stop the Web Standards Project's website from rendering perfectly in IE8. And the only way they can prevent that is to opt-in to the standards rendering mode. What message does that send to the web standards community when WaSP requires an explict opt-in to IE8 rendering?

*Full article "IE8 Blacklist: forcing standards rendering opt-in."

Don't Miss Tonight...

2009-02-11T09:40:00.008-06:00

25 Random Things About Me!

2009-02-05T21:09:00.015-06:00

I've been tagged multiple times and kept putting it off but I'm finally falling victom of peer preasure...

1.) I prefer drinking flat sodas, & when I go to a restaurant I order my drinks without ice, & I LOVE Fountain drinks (without ice).

2.) I LOVE my job and NEVER dread going to work. (and I'm proud to say I designed the website for the company I work for).

3.) I HATE Internet Explorer (especially IE6) & hope that everyone reading this using internet explorer will download Firefox today!

4.) I love Pizza but take all the toppings (sometimes I eat them separate) and eat just the bread and sauce.

5.) I HATE mayo and am not a huge fan of ketchup, mustard, or any special sauces. I order all of my burgers DRY. It was always funny in high school when we would have far away games and the basketball team would go get food, they would always have to make one special order for me, and I was always made fun of for it, but my burger seemed to always be hot while everyone else's was cold...

6.) Growing up all I cared about was succeeding in basketball and I sat the bench my entire senior year and only played garbage minutes on varsity.

7.) I was awarded a letterman jacket but I have NEVER worn it, not once. (They didn't give it to me until the summer after I had already graduated. It's still hanging up in my closet).

8.) I can't eat food without lights being on.

9.) I love to watch basketball and rarely miss any televised game (college, high school, or NBA), and thankfully my wonderful wife puts up with it all, and has our entire marriage.

10.) I met my wife in a chatroom. (Yes it's because I'm a shy little nerd who is too scared to talk to girls).

11.) For the past two years I have worn a pair of red socks EVERY Friday and have officially renamed "Friday" to "FUN-day" at work.

12.) I am a self proclaimed "Amateur Musicologist"

13.) I wear a pair of basketball shorts under ALL of my clothes at ALL times (because you never know when there will be an opportunity to play).

14.) I LOVE FONTS & Typography in general!

15.) A majority of my emails end with "Enjoy™" (which I un-officially trademarked).

16.) My favorite food is Potatoe (I love it, fried, baked, scalloped, boiled, mashed, diced, sliced, in a soup, salad, and pretty much anyway and any how).

17.) My name is Shane Michael Guymon at least thats what it says on my birth certificate, and Drivers License. My mom has been heard calling me Shaney. When I was younger I used to ask her to call me her little Darling. My sister refered to me as "It" and "squeeky bones." My brother Mark called me splean, until the next time I saw him and everyone he knew including himself were calling me Skillz (I couldn't help but suppose there was some sort of "sarcasm" behind it all)! Next thing I knew my brother Matt flipped that into Spillz, which caught on well enough that this kid named Chris Capps called me that on the way home from Basketball practice, but he wasn't to happy when I called him "Pissin Craps" after that. In Brazil I became a "Greengo" either that or some other mis-pronunciation of my last name. I grew up a loser striving to become a winner. In Jr. High BJ Pratt called me the "White Somalian." In High School he started sayin Shane "The Main Man" Guymon. Mexicans (hispanics) call me Chain. Then that reminds me of all the times Matt called me Stain. A few people through my life have called me a Nerd. A few other people have refered to me as a Friend. Through my life I have grown accustomed to responding to the name Shawn. I even turn my head when people call out the name Matt (since all my life people have thought we were twins). So I guess if I was to introduce myself I would say you can go ahead and start off by calling me Shane, then you can move on from there...

18.) My life has become a constant battle of trying to gain full control over myself, appetites, passions, and emotions. To which I have started referring to life as "The Beautiful Struggle."

19.) I NEVER cuss not even when I'm angry. The worst words I say are "hell" and "damn" and those are very few and far in between.

20.) Movies are my biggest weakness. I LOVE them all!

21.) The two things that have impacted my life the most are, my dad's death when I was 17 (my senior year) and the birth of my daughter Hannah.

22.) I still sit in my moms lap when i go home to see her.

23.) I've always wanted to write a book, direct a movie, and be a photographer.

24.) My dad wanted all of his kids to have dark hair and brown eyes, and I am the only one who listened.

25.) I'm afraid of heights, roaches (and many other bugs), spiders, snakes, rats, & swimming in any body of water that isn't filled with chlorine and other chemicals (rivers, lakes, ponds, or the ocean).

**BONUS**
26.) I drove around for a week with a dead rat in my car and didn't figure it out until I finally took it into the shop thinking there was something wrong with my air conditioner (the only time I could smell it was when the air conditioner was turned on). I picked the rat up visiting my wife in Buna before we got married. Meaning I drove 5 hours home with it up in my car. On the way home was when I first started smelling it.

27.) My dad used to pay me 2 cents an hour to tickle his head.

28.) Almost every night my mom would be tickling my dad's back, arm or head. When I would try to come lay-down and get in on the back tickling action, my dad would tell me to go find my own girl to tickle my back and then marry here. So I spent the rest of my life looking for that girl, and Heather tricked me into believing it was her, but as soon as we got married all the tickling has ceased. Now my only hope is to con my daughter Hannah into tickling my back for 2 cents a minute.

Smile!

2009-02-04T15:13:00.006-06:00

While I was gone in Dallas to play basketball with my brothers (which I played terrible, but had a good time) Heather & Hannah were invited to a birthday party for one of Hannah's friends (Thanks Lucy Monson for inviting Hannah!). At the party their was a small petting zoo with a pony for all the kids to ride. When I imagined Hannah riding the pony, this is the exact expression I envisioned her having. Which also happens to be my favorite Hannah smile!*

*I think it's better to see it in person, the camera has never seemed to capture it quite so well.

Read Me the Apple Tree Book

2009-01-26T20:32:00.008-06:00

For the past week or maybe two every night I carry Hannah to bed and then she says, "Will you read me the apple tree book?"

So I read her the book, and I think I have the first half of the book memorized. Tonight I was able to read it without looking at it. Luckily it's a great story, it reminds me of our relationship with Heavenly Father. At the same time it is a perfect life lesson as the boy is always wanting worldly things, like first he comes and says he needs money to make him happy, and so the tree offers him her apples to take and sell so that he will have money and be happy. Next he wants a house and a wife, so the tree offers up her branches so he can build himself a house. When he returns sad and depressed again he thinks he needs a boat to make him happy, so the tree offers up her trunk to make him happy, and finally he returns an old and dying man, and all the tree has left is a stump for him to rest upon, and that is when the boy realizes (I hope) that none of that stuff brings happiness, but true happiness comes from US being MORE like the tree and giving, and giving, and giving. The more we forget about ourselves and instead care for others is when we truly understand love & life.

The only thing that saddened the tree was when the boy didn't come around, but when the boy was around the tree was anxious to give itself to the boy entirely. The act of giving is what constantly brought happiness and meaning to the trees existence.

So let us all give a little more, and let us all not care so much about money, cars, houses, TV's, computers, toys, & other worldly things that only bring temporary happiness as it quenches our appetites for only a short amount of time. Instead let us be anxiously engaged in helping and giving of our time, talents, and efforts to others.

Hanney Bird...

2009-01-18T20:17:00.008-06:00

Lately Hannah has been either acting like a dog or a bird. She switches through out the day. So she is either flapping her arms around the house flying everywhere she goes or she is running around panting on all fours with the occasional bark. Whenever she goes to the bathroom and she is finished she will announce, "I'm DOOOONE!"

If you don't come immediately she will begin to bark and howl until you get there. Also whenever you tell her to do anything like Clean her room, or pick up her toys, she will turn and growl at you. I really wish we could catch all of this on camera, but as soon as you pull out a camera she stops doing it, and is never in the mood to put on an on demand show.

Even at church today, two out of the three times I had to take her to go pee, she would want to crawl down the hall on all fours and pant and bark like a dog. Only problem is the hallways can get kind of busy, since we aren't the only ward in the building, so I had to stop Hannah from doing it. So after she let her frustration out, she decided that being a bird and flying down the hall wasn't a bad consolation.

Either way it's hilarious... most of the time.

Also in these last couple of months every time she is in the house we can barely get her to wear a shirt. Most of the time she will run around in just her underwear. The first thing she does when she gets home is strip out of all of her clothes.

At church the new year brought on a new Sunday school class. So she is leaving the class of 18 month olds - 3 year olds. So gone are the days of playing with toys, snack time, and coloring pictures. Now she has had to reluctantly say hello to a short lesson where she has to sit in a chair, sing songs, & will usually still be able to color a picture. Needless to say Hannah has never been a huge fan of change, so today was the first Sunday where she actually didn't cry for the first 5-10 minutes. Let's hope this means she is leaning towards the getting used to it part.

Another funny thing Hannah has been doing is making up her own songs. I've tried my hardest to listen and remember the words to the songs, but I am unable to do so. Here is my best effort of one she was singing today.

We never do, what we never do. We never do cause we have to do what we never do.

Something like that... it's hilarious!

She also will say that to you, she will say, "I never do, I just have to." (If anyone out there understands what that is supposed to mean, help me and Heather out)

Go Steelers... I'm OUT!

Heather's Birthday

2009-01-15T12:33:00.005-06:00

Heather will be turning 26 tomorrow, I'm not sure what is planned for the BIG day, but I do know one thing she is gathering a ton of FREE birthday gifts from various restaurants around town. I think she has joined EVERY mailing list for EVERY restaurant around our house, or at lease all of our favorites like:

Spicy Pickle, Red Robin, & Texas Roadhouse to name a few off the top of my head.

So let's not forget to shower Heather with gifts, love, and LOT'S of comments on her blog!

Six Years

2008-12-31T22:15:00.018-06:00

Last Sunday marked the sixth year that Heather and I have been married. I know it's not a HUGE landmark, however it has gotten me looking back to where those six years have gone. So I decided to go digging through memories that have been stuffed away into boxes and other plastic containers and tucked away in both high and low places.

For those of you who don't know I returned home from my mission December 21st 2001. I had no job, no car, and really no plans. When I got home my older brother Matt used to get onto LDS chat every day and flirt with girls. So since everyone was gone to work each day I decided to check out the chat room scene. Around January 6th I met a girl with the screen name of "TempleBound." After an hour or so of chatting with me she was overly annoyed but at the same time addicted to the dopeness that is Shane. Almost daily we would talk and soon the instant messaging and chatting wasn't sufficient and she had to hear my voice. The smooth sound of my voice vibrated the muscles in her heart a sufficient amount that the phone calls began happening on almost a daily basis. Soon after pictures and letters began being exchanged. Above is one of the first pictures Heather mailed to me.

My brother and I had both had the desire to make a trip to the Houston temple together. So we made tentative plans without any expectations other than a nice little visit to the temple. However all the phone calls and instant messaging created this uncontrollable desire in Heather to need to meet me in person. She became almost obsessed with the idea. So before I knew it she was coming up with plans on how to meet me at the temple. So above is the photo taken the first time we ever met in person. I think it was that moment when we first met in person at the temple when I knew I wanted to marry Heather...

So on went our relationship of nightly phone calls until odd hours of the night and Heather at this point basically addicted to Shane developed a master plan to have her dad bring her out to San Antonio to spend a weekend with me. So I told her when the next single adult church dance was going to happen. So Heather used that as an excuse to convince her father to drive 5 in a half hours to San Antonio. So above is a picture taken on what was essentially our first date. Which consisted of walking around the River Walk as I got us lost looking for the Alamo, and stopping to eat at Fudruckers before her Dad met back up with us to go back to the flat lands of Buna.

Now we fast forward ahead a couple months to the picture above which was taken in Buna, Texas after we were enganged to be married, but prior to her moving to San Antonio. There were a couple months where we took turns driving 5 hours to spend the weekend with one another.

Soon after Heather moved to San Antonio and we spent about 6 months together before the big wedding day came. Above is a picture from our wedding day.

Seriously this is one of the first "family" pictures we took, and it was soon after we moved to Cedar Park which was November 2006.

Above is the first professional family photo we took, and that was done last year before Christmas.

And now skip forward to our Christmas 2008 photo we took this year, and I think we have finally decided on making this annual picture a family tradition. So now with baby number 2 on the way and a new year approaching us in one minute. I look forward to many more wonderful years with my beautiful wife Heather, my adorable daughter Hannah, and whatever God decides to bring us in 2009!

The First Snowflake

2008-12-24T22:27:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas! Here is a brand spanking new Christmas song I just found today (thanks Angie!)

How Michael "Santa Clause" Jordan Saved Christmas

2008-12-20T19:54:00.013-06:00

Christmas of 1999, I was a senior in high school, and I spent a lot of time with a family, originally from Utah. We would play basketball together, watch basketball together, and we would constantly talk trash back and forth about basketball. Me being a Jordan disciple, and he being a die hard Utah Jazz fan we were able to have some very interesting discussions. So seeing as how Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dominated the 90's, he received the brunt of my creative trash talking abilities. So when Christmas came around, the year after Jordan beat the Jazz to win their 6th championship. He invited me to his house for a little get together, I decided to write up a nice little Christmas poem as a special token of our friendship, as his family was about to move back to Utah. I recently discovered this masterpiece in a dusty box of memories in my closet.

I looked outside on a cold winter day
and everyone was happy I could say
It was December six,
all the good boys were out collecting sticks,
for a nice fire.
But in the mountains there lived an evil sire,
who went by the name of Karl Malone.
He had a face and a heart of stone.
Destroying Christmas was his only wish,
but Michael "Santa Clause" Jordan, well all his shots went swish.

Now Jordan and his little elves have kept Christmas for five years
so there were no children to shed any tears.
But Karl Malone
wanted to hear the children moan.
So once again they did meat for that sacred prize
to put happiness or sadness in the children's eyes.

In game one Jordan hit fifty.
The kids thought that was quite nifty.
Game two he rang in sixty three
The children all screamed yippee!
Karl Malone did steal game three
The children wondered, "How could it be?"
He repeated his rage in game number four,
but in game five Jordan did soar
he even dunked it on Karl Malones head
which put all the children safely to bed.

Now if Jordan put it away in game six
Christmas would again be safely fixed.
However in game six Malone put up quite a battle
one after one his shots went in with a rattle.

With only minutes to spare there was little hope
The children began to mope,
but wait! Jordan comes from behind to get the steal,
Malone thought, "This can't be real."
Seconds there were but a few.
Jordan hesitated before he took off to fly,
as he dunks it in Karl Malones eye.

Yes Jordan did soar,
and the crowd did indeed roar
Christmas once again came
and Malone still had no game
and all the Bulls fans got presents,
but coal went to all the silly Jazz peasants.

Brandon Vaughn

2008-12-19T00:07:00.007-06:00

I recieved an email earlier today from Bob Banta, of the American Statesman asking me to call him to answer some questions about Brandon. I pointed him in the direction of two closer friends instead. I contacted Bob at around 6:30 pm to find out that he had just finished writing the story and thanked me for my help. I asked him to email me the article when it went live. If you're interested here it is:

"Two youths killed in car wreck shared love of basketball"

I also found out that his Funeral will be held at:
One Way Baptist Church off of Hairyman Road at 11:00am on Monday (December 22, 2008).

Last Night

2008-12-17T07:27:00.016-06:00

Longhorn Basketball

My friend Eric called me yesterday afternoon offering up four Longhorns basketball tickets on the 9th row. They were playing Texas Southern (whom I've never even heard of & still have no clue where the school is even located). So I called up one of my friends to see if he wanted to join me, and he ended up bringing his brother and his four year old son. We were supposed to meet at 6:15 at the Round Rock stake center, but he didn't show up till after 6:30. Then we had to drive down to 360 and Bee Caves to Eric Mott's office to pick up the tickets then on to the game which started at 7:00. So we didn't end up making it to our seats until half time where the Longhorns had a one point lead.

The game ended up being pretty good, and the seats where GREAT, right down on the 10th row in the corner. That's the closest I've ever sat to any basketball game other than a Highschool game. Also the first time seeing the Longhorns play in person.

A.J. Abrams had 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, but it was Pittman who provided the much-needed spark for the Longhorns (9-1).

A.J. Abrams was quite impressive to me, even though I only saw him play half the game, it was impressive to see this 5'7 or 5'8 dude weaving in and around guys working to get open, and he would go long periods of time without touching the ball and then as soon as the defense gave him any daylight the ball was dropping straight through the net. I only saw him miss 2 shots, and one of them it seemed like he never really wanted to shoot it in the first place.

I actually brought my camera with me and accidentally left it in the car because we were running late. Hopefully Eric Mott will think of me again next time he doesn't want to use his tickets.

William Brandon Vaughn

Sadly my day ended NOT so well. I got a phone call around 11:00 at night from a guy I play basketball with on Wed nights. He informed me that another friend of mine who I also play ball with on Wed nights died in a car accident last night. I believe he was only 19 years old, maybe 20. I didn't know very many personal details about him. I only really spent time with him on the basketball court, and most of our conversations revolved around basketball. I didn't even know his last name, but you know how some people just radiate goodness. Well that was Brandon, he was just an all around good dude. Seriously, I've been playing with him for about 2 years almost, and he was one of my favorite people that showed up each and every week. It was shocking news, and I just feel bad that I wasn't able to know Brandon better than I did. My heart goes out to his parents, especially his mom, and all of his friends. The world lost one of the good guys last night...

**UPDATE**
I've talked to some more people and found out some more info, and I also learned his full name. I then was able to find some stories about the accident online.

"Two teenage boys were killed in a collision in Bastrop County Tuesday afternoon.

"According to police, William Brandon Vaughn, 19, and James Jackson, 18, both of Round Rock were traveling in a 2002 Ford Focus heading north on Highway 95 about 5 miles south of Elgin.

"The driver was passing other vehicles that were on the shoulder, when he lost control of the vehicle. The car then slid into oncoming traffic, hitting a 1996 Ford Explorer. The two occupants of the Ford Explorer received non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident happened around 3:55 p.m."

Source here.

The Submarines

2008-12-16T12:00:00.007-06:00

Lately I've been massaging my ear drums with the smooth fun sounds created by: The Submarines
Enjoy™

Yet Another Reason of Why NOT to Use Internet Explorer

2008-12-16T10:03:00.005-06:00

"Users of all current versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser might be vulnerable to having their computers hijacked because of a serious security hole in the software that had yet to be fixed Monday."

"The flaw lets criminals commandeer victims' machines merely by tricking them into visiting Web sites tainted with malicious programming code. As many as 10,000 sites have been compromised since last week to exploit the browser flaw, according to antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc.."

"Many security experts, meanwhile, are urging Internet Explorer users to use another browser until a patch is released."

So why not make the switch to a smarter more efficient Internet Browser today?

P.S.-- Click the title to hop on over to the entire article.

A Conversation With Hannah

2008-12-11T21:24:00.002-06:00

Today I recorded a small conversation with Hannah. Also you can check out her new hair cut. Heather had someone come by our house last night and cut it. I prefer it going down to her shoulders, but she is happy with it, and Heather likes it... so whatever.

Scooter Ride

2008-12-11T19:05:00.002-06:00

This is old, from like Aug or Sept, but I wanted to share it anyways. Hannah loves to ride her scooter! She takes it with her almost everywhere we go. Here she is in action with one of her friends that lives in our complex.

Fifty People, One Question: New York

2008-12-10T23:33:00.003-06:00

"We asked the same question and it took us somewhere new. Gone were the lazy days of summer. A cool breeze swept the streets with leaves under foot and the familiar hustle of the city…welcome to autumn in New York."

A Winter Wonderland!

2008-12-04T08:59:00.000-06:00

The lights have been hung with care
All the festive hats are snug on our heads
With a friendly little snowman to bring in good cheer!
It’s a winter wonderland at PracticeCafé.com (snow included).

Spaceman

2008-12-02T10:50:00.001-06:00

So Heather was super sweet and nice and bought me the new Killers album last week, and I've been listening to it while I work and in my car while I drive. There's this song that I REALLY like on the album but I have no clue what it really means. So I was going to ask the infinite abyss of the interweb for help. I don't want anyone trying to tell me it is about him getting abducted by aliens either. Cause I'm not buying into any of that silly non sense. I'm especially interested in the chorus which is intriguing to me. If your interested in hearing the album just email me.

It started with a low light
Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed
And then they took my blood type
It left a strange impression in my head
You know that I was hoping
That I could leave this starcrossed world behind
But when they cut me open
I guess I changed my mind
And you know I might
Have just flown too far from the floor this time
Cause they calling me by my name
And the zipping white light beams
Disregarding the bombs and satellites

That was the turning point
That was one lonely night

The starmaker says it ain't so bad
The dreammaker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says everybody look down!
It's all in your mind

Now I'm back at home and
I’m looking forward to this life I live
You know it's going to harm me
So hesitation to this life I give
You think you might cross over
You're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea
You better look it over
Before you make that leap

And you know I'm fine, but I hear those voices at night
Sometimes, they justify my claim
And the public don’t dwell on my transmission
Cause It wasn’t televised

But it was the turning point
O what a lonely night

The starmaker says it ain't so bad
The dreammaker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says everybody look down!
It's all in your mind

The starmaker says it ain't so bad
The dreammakers's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says everybody look down!
It's all in your mind

My global position systems are vocally addressed
They said the nile used to run from east to west
They said the nile used to run… from east to west

And you know I'm fine,
but I hear those voices at night
Sometimes...

The starmaker says it ain't so bad
The dreammaker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says everybody look down!
It's all in your mind

The starmaker says it ain't so bad
The dreammaker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says everybody look down!
It's all in your mind

**MY THOUGHTS**
I think he is talking about something that happened to him in his life, something where he was he made a decision to change his life. Then he makes mention to how sometimes he is tempted to go back to his old ways, and aren't we all. Maybe that's why I enjoy this song so much. I can remember when my father passed away it was a turning point in my life, and it changed me. Infact the day of his death I could describe it as an alien abduction as well. I think the Starmaker is like God telling you it ain't so bad, and the dreammaker is gonna make you mad cause in most cases dreams don't ever come true, at least not how you dreamt them to be, and the spaceman is like the natural man trying to deceive you, telling you it's all in your mind.

Another Guymon Is Coming...

2008-12-01T10:00:00.000-06:00

While in Buna Heather was feeling the baby vibes coming her way so she decided to buy some tests, and she peed on them and this is what popped up...

Looks like another Guymon is headed this way! Looks like Hannah gets to become a Big Sister!

Pushing Daisies will be Pushing Daisies...

2008-11-21T17:10:00.000-06:00

I received some devastating news today, just about as devastating as when I found out Arrested Development was going to be canceled. It seems like every time their is a television show that actually is quite superb with it's story telling abilities as Pushing Daisies is, and Arrested Development was they kick it off!

Pushing Daisies is by far my all time favorite show on TV right now. The stories are well written and well thought up, the set designs, and costumes are imaginative, and the acting is stellar. Now it will end without any closure at all. I'm searching the infinite abyss we call the interweb via google for any sort of way to try and help save the show, but I am beginning to realize that all hope is lost.

For the inside scoop on Pushing Daisies being canceled check this out.

Family Portrait 2008

2008-11-10T09:51:00.000-06:00

Saturday we took our family portrait for the year. We are trying to make this a tradition in the Guymon household. Portrait Innovation has a good package for $9.99. We always end up spending more cause they take such good pictures it's hard to chose only one pose. So anyways here's the picture we chose for the 9.99 package. Although Hannah looks happy in the photo, it was not so much the case, she was not too into taking photos, well really she was all the way up until the point that they actually called our name and pulled out the camera. Some how we still managed to get several good pictures to chose from. The best part is you leave with your pictures. They print them off right after you pay.

We walked out of Picture Innovations at 11:00, and Spicy Pickle was calling out names, it's hard to say no to Mesquite Turkey on Ciabatta bread with tomatoes, lettuce, avocados, and swiss cheese. So being that it is right next door, we walked right in the door and partook in the goodness. However we got home and the bread that was holding together the sweet goodness was not ciabatta, and it kind of ruined the experience, and didn't kill the craving...

After the not so fulfilling sandwich Heather was dividing up the pictures and gathered the pictures going to my mom, and my family, and she came into the bedroom and said, "Why don't we go see your mom today."

Of course I was down, so we asked Hannah, and she was excited about the idea, so we threw a few things together jumped in our Kia Sedona, and made the 1.5 hour venture down to good ol' San Antone to sneak attack my mom (I never told her we were coming).

CNN Wins!

2008-11-04T22:52:00.000-06:00

In my opinion as far as following the election online CNN.com's website proved to be simple to use and read, the information and tools were simplistic yet innovative, and aesthetically pleasing. Take a look at the screen capture (click on it to enlarge) that I took at around 10:30 (CST). You can see how beautifully they present the information. I really loved the interactive map, which allowed you to roll your mouse over any state to be able to see what percentage of votes each person was receiving or did receive. It also used colors to show who was winning each state.

The picture above (click on it to enlarge) shows the black banner that was located at the top of the screen which presented a live scoring of the votes and also gave the needed information for the uneducated like myself by telling what the "magic" number was that each candidate was trying to get to first.

This screen capture above (click on it to enlarge) shows the main content area of their site, and the different interactive charts that they utilized to simplify the experience making it very easy & clear to obtain the information I was needing.

This was the first year I ever followed the election online, and I checked out a few other news sites as well, and CNN proved to be the best in my opinion, so I am definitely sure that in the future I will be tuning into CNN.com for my up-to-date election coverage.

Cinderella & The Prince

2008-11-04T09:06:00.000-06:00

I got home yesterday to Hannah telling me this sad story about how she wants to wear her Cinderella dress but that mom won't let her. So Heather over hearing corrected the story, so we told her to go ahead and put her Cinderella dress on. So she put it on, and she came out and I said, "Oh you look so pretty Hannah!"

Then she quickly corrected me and said, "Don't call me Hannah, call me Cinderella."

So then I corrected myself.

I then started to make myself a little something to eat and I sat down, and Hannah walked over to me and said, "Hi Prince, do you want to come to my room with me, and watch my movie, theirs lots of toys, you can bring your food, come on, it'll be lots of fun!"

(Also at some point after she called me Prince, and before we made it to her room, we danced together in the living room, and that was the original reason of going to her room, because she wanted to continue dancing in her room).

How can you say no to that? We were watching Big Bang Theory (I do have a DVR though), so it was kind of difficult, but she kept giving more and more features, letting me know I could sit on her bed and eat, and she even picked up my food and offered to carry it into her room for me. So I went along. So the rest of the night she continued calling me Prince, and I continued calling her Cinderella up until she said good night the The Prince, and I said good night to Cinderella.

The funnier part of the story, is she slept in the Cinderella dress, woke up and continued to call me Prince, when I left to work she gave me a hug and said, "Good bye Prince!"

Reckoner Lockdown

2008-11-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

Here's a sweet mix by DJ Earworm. Combining the Lyrics of Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" and the music of Radiohead's "Reckoner." Head over to his website to download it if you'd like.

Enjoy™

Night Time

2008-10-29T20:25:00.001-05:00

Every night for the past couple nights we say our family prayers, brush Hannah's teeth (kill the sugar bugs), and then I give her a piggy back ride to bed. Once we are in her room she immediately picks out one of her Disney princess books and asks me to read it to her. After I am done with the book she asks me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (with hand motions) three or four times in a row. Then she will ask me to sing "Twinkle Little Star" at least once. After that she will either fall right to sleep, or continue playing in her bed until she goes to sleep.

Some nights I really don't feel like reading or singing the same songs, but I see her little face and she looks me straight in the eye, and she asks me in her cute little voice and I can't resist but doing her this little favor. I mean in all reality is the activity I would be doing instead of doing that any better? No way, because it would probably involve me laying on a couch watching some TV show I DVRed or a basketball game.

Speaking of that, it's about time for me to lace up the Nikes and head out to the church to play some basketball (as long as they don't kick us out).

MAD MEN: Simpson's Style

2008-10-29T13:39:00.000-05:00

I love MAD MEN, and I also am a huge fan of The Simpsons, so to have The Simpsons spoof the MAD MEN intro just makes me giddy...

NBA

2008-10-29T11:51:00.001-05:00

The NBA kicked off the season last night with a double header on TNT. I was out in the second quarter of the second game. Which meant I was asleep before 10:00. I was quite upset, becasue the second game was REALLY the game I wanted to watch. OH well there are plenty of games left including another double header tonight on ESPN.

Tonights Match-ups:
Phoenix at San Antonio 7:00pm (CT)
Lakers at Clippers 9:30pm (CT)

I LOVE basketball season! (Heather... not so much)

Your Problem Solved

2008-10-06T22:26:00.001-05:00

On the 14th day of October the world was blessed (or cursed) with the presence of one Shane Michael Guymon. If by any chance you were having trouble figuring out what to buy a humble young boy from The Oak for such an occasion as spending 28 years on this old soil we like to call Earth then worry no more. I have managed to put together a list of great gift ideas for your viewing (perhaps buying) pleasure.

– iMac
– Ampersand Shirt (in Baskerville typeface - XL)
– House Industries Ampersand Tee (XL)
– House Industries FAQ Tee (XL)
– House Industries Grab Bag (XL)
– Communication Arts Magazine
– iPhone
– Instinct (I do have sprint)
– iPod Nano (in red)
– iPod Touch
– Air Jordan's XI
– Salt Grass (Gift Card)
– Money
– Guarana (It's gotta be Antarctica)
– A day with Mommy Guymon (or weekend)
– A date with this Hot Girl or this one or heck even this one

Schedule

2008-10-03T12:16:00.000-05:00

I've started to notice that my days have become recognisable to me by what shows I watch that paticular day. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it an epidemic? Should I be afraid? What side effects are involved? These are all questions running through my mind.

This is what I mean:

MONDAY: How I Met Your Mother, & Big Bang Theory
TUESDAY: Fringe (more details coming soon), Greek, & 90210 (What? Why?)
WEDNESDAY: Pushing Daisies (My ALL time favorite show on TV), & I go play basketball from 9:00 - 11:30
THURSDAY: The Office, 30 Rock, & Always Sunny In Philadelphia
FRIDAY: Nothing, usually a day I throw a movie into the mix
SATURDAY: Nothing, usually a day I throw a movie into the mix, or just spend time with Family & Friends
SUNDAY: Football, The Simpsons, Family Guy, & Mad Men (The show I mostly look forward to on Sunday)

Denim and A Movie

2008-09-28T22:59:00.000-05:00

I totally meant to write this post like a month ago. Anyways... So we were at the mall (about a month ago) and we decided to buy a Auntie Anne's pretzel and we sat on a near by bench to decimate it. While enjoying my pretzel I turned to read a poster in the window of American Eagle which in huge sans serif font read, "DENIM AND A MOVIE." It took awhile for me to actually register what i read. So my first thought was oh that's cool, they are giving a way movie tickets if you buy a pair of jeans. However as I continued to sit and partake of my delectable pretzel my curiosity grew, not only because of the intriguing headline but also it seemed to be a decently designed poster, and I was enjoying the design aspect of the poster. So I read on, and the poster made the claim of giving away ONE FREE ticket for simply trying on a pair of their jeans. This heavenly claim seemed to good to be true. I then wanted to take in the entire copy of the poster. I wanted to figure out what the catch is. The mere cliche nature of American Eagle, and the "FAD"ness of it's atmosphere always gave me the vibe to stay away from a store like that. The last thing I need is a pair of strategically torn and faded jeans to make me look cool. However to be awarded a FREE movie ticket just to slide a pair on for a brief moment behind a dressing room door seemed too good to be true. Especially with movie like Pineapple Express showing on the big screen. So I told Heather I couldn't miss out on this offer. So I went into the store and sadly I struggled to find a pair of jeans to fit me. It's not like I'm fat, I was looking for a size 36? I finally found a pair and made my way to the dressing room, still expecting some sort of a catch. I tried the jeans on, I even ventured out the door and showed my strategically ripped and faded jeans to Heather, who was REALLY digging them. I took a look at the price tag which read $30.00. Sadly that is more money than I want to spend on a pair of jeans. So I gave them back to the guy and he handed me a crisp white FREE movie pass. The only catch being that I had to use it at an AMC movie theater. Which ended up being about 20-25 minutes away. So I called up Gabe, which was seriously about the only guy I know who I even thought would be interested in going to the movie with me. He took me up on the offer and we headed to see Pineapple Express that very night. The movie started at 10:30 and we didn't get back until almost 1:00 then had to drag ourselves out of bed early in the morning to make it to church.

Pineapple Express was hilarious! I didn't laugh as much as I did in Step Brothers, but it was still funny. Infact I think the best part about the movie was how well they mixed the action and fight sequences with the stupid humor. The movie went places I never expected it to go, but was very pleased when they did. Now of course the movie is rated R, so it is full of poor language, blood and a lot of weed smoking. So if you are able to get passed all of that the movie is well worth your time. I myself have always enjoyed the pot smoking comedies like Friday (I still can quote more scenes from Friday than any other movie) & Half Baked.

*Me wearing my brand spanking new American Eagle jeans!

The very next weekend the Cohen Brothers (My second favorite movie writer/director) latest movie hit theaters, and I had an overwhelming desire to see it. So I found myself once again at the mall headed to American Eagle. Only this time Heather had 30 bucks and really wanted to see my butt in those strategically faded and torn jeans for some reason. Only this time it took me about four pairs of jeans before I found the pair I tried on the previous week. All the others really seemed to fit awkward. The very first pair of jeans I tried on the guy who unlocked the door handed me a free ticket and I slid it in my pocket. The following three times I entered the dressing room he didn't give me anymore. However once I finally found a pair to buy I went to the register and after the purchase was completed and the debit card was swiped and approved she pulled out two more tickets and handed them to me with my new pair of jeans in a dark blue paper bag with a HUGE white silhouette of an eagle on the front. I walked the rest of the time through the mall feeling like a 16 year old ready to be adored by my other high school colleagues. I could sit in class and show off my strategically torn sections of my jeans. I imagined the different stories i could come up with as to how I might have ACTUALLY ripped them in those sections. Ok so maybe none of the daydreaming actually ever happened, in all reality all I was really excited about was the fact that I made it out of the store with not only two tickets for buying a pair of jeans (because the deal was if you try on a pair of jeans you get one FREE ticket, but if you buy a pair of jeans you get TWO FREE tickets). So now in a two week period I came away with FOUR FREE tickets, I was ecstatic, and got home rushed to the computer to see what the show times were for, "Burn After Reading". I realized it was another late movie, and called up Gabe to see if he was interested, and he wasn't quite as excited even when I told him I also had a free ticket for him as well. So then I invited a friend of ours who lives on the third floor. He however also turned me down (I'm not sure how people turn down a FREE movie but they do). So I decided to wait till the next weekend. The tickets were only good until September 21st (which also happened to be my brother Matt's birthday). So the following weekend would be the last opportunity to use the tickets. So that weekend came, and once again I called my friend Gabe up, who was actually on his way to Houston to help out the hurricane victims. So I once again asked my neighbor on the third floor who once again turned me down. So I called up two other people I know and they didn't answer their phones, and I didn't leave them a message and instead decided to fly solo. I really enjoy going to movies by myself anyways, it allows me to have a more unbiased opinion of the movie.

Burn After Reading was brilliant. The best part about it was all of the unexpected things that happened to each and every character. Right from the opening scene where you are in a CIA office and where three people are demoting a CIA employee and he isn't too happy to hear the news. He begins to blow up, and even his reaction in the office seemed to be unexpected, to me atleast, and humorous. After asking why this was happening the guy sitting beside him quietly said, "You have a drinking problem." To which he replied, "You're a MORMON, next to you EVERYONE has a drinking problem." I don't care who you are THAT'S funny! What proceeded was a well acted movie with a brilliant script that perfectly told the story of several different strangers that in the end all linked together to form key rolls in the clumsy story. I don't really want to ruin any of the movie, it's better when you are just apart of what is going on as it is all happening. The shock value is one of the best parts of the movie. Once again this movie is rated R so it has it's fair share of "F" bombs and other colorful language. It is mildly violent but mostly humorous and brilliant. This movie also has THE PERFECT ending to the story, which made the entire movie THAT much better.

If you followed the story, which as I scroll up has become quite lengthy, so I'm not exactly sure how many of my readers I have kept entertained, anyways if you have kept up you are probably wondering what about the last two tickets? Well I'm glad you were so observant, I came up with a brilliant plan to offer the tickets to my brother Matt who was turning 30 on the 21st. So I called him up and told him, and he didn't find my plan to be as brilliant as I did, rather he accused me of being cheap and trying to sneak my way out of actually buying him a gift (the nerve of some people heh?). Anyways Heather and I had already made plans to meet my Mom and brother Ethan in San Marcos at the outlet malls to hang out. So I told Matt I'd be giving the tickets to them, and for him to stop by my moms house later to pick them up. I called him on his birthday to find out if the tickets were used, and sadly the tickets never made it to him, he said he went to my Mom's house and no one gave them to him. Its sad that such a beautiful thing went to waste...

SUN-day

2008-09-17T20:05:00.000-05:00

Here's how the story goes. It's around 7:30 in the morning and we are lounging in bed, I'm trying to soak in as many hours in my 600 thread count sheets as possible. Good Morning America is on TV and Hannah is laying inbetween us but slightly closer to Heather. All of a sudden she says, "I want to go to church!"

Heather and I begin trying to explain to her that it's not Sunday. As we say this she looks out towards the window and pointing her finger she exclaims, "Yeah huh! Look the sun is right there!"

She's a smart little cookie, and it was hard to argue with such wisdom, so as a compromise we decided to let her pick out a dress to wear for the day. While selecting a dress she also grabbed these pink glasses to wear because, "they match!"

Anyways go ahead and click on the picture to see the rest of the pictures we recently uploaded.

Chrome

2008-09-05T09:24:00.001-05:00

Google announced they are launching their FRESH take on the browser that they are calling Chrome. To introduce this browser they released this handy little comic book (which I read). I'm a little late on this... well not really, I've known about it for a few days now, I was holding off though until I actually was able to use it for myself. Only problem now is, the fact that they haven't released it for MAC or Linux yet, only for PC.

Pretty lame if you ask me. The only positive I can see from this is that maybe this will bring us that much closer to the end of IE6 (Internet Explorer 6).

So anyways PC people in the world go download Google Chrome and take it for a spin, it may just be your new favorite browser of choice!

Enjoy™

Rainydayz

2008-09-03T23:36:00.000-05:00

Just found out about this, but a Hip-hop producer by the name of AmpLive (whom I've never heard of) remixed 8 songs from Radioheads latest album "In Rainbows" and got the bands permission to release his remixes for free. So if you love music like me, then click your way over to download the remixed album.

Enjoy™

Floating Heads

2008-09-03T12:03:00.000-05:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Pink

2008-08-29T20:11:00.000-05:00

pink, slightly swollen, throbbing with pain, itchy, and a fair amount of gunk was the condition of my left eye at around 3:30 am when I awoke and then was unable to get back to sleep until after I accidently woke Heather up in what was seeming to be an endless search for the eye drop medication in hopes of bringing myself some sort of temporary relief for the remainder of the night. I finally fell back asleep around 5:30 or 6:00.

To all the irresponsible parents out there who allow their children who are infected with such highly contagious diseases like pink eye, please don't allow them to go swimming in the community pool at your apartment complex, or jump and hang from the necks of friendly neighbors such as myself, and then at the end of the night casually mention that your child has pink eye.

KEEP YOUR KIDS WITH CONTAGIOUS DISEASES TO YOURSELF!

Especially since this is the second time this week that it has happened, and from two different kids.

Since I try to remain as positive as possible and being that today was FUNday, I have to add that my day was spent in bed watching season 1 of Arrested Development (Thanks Amanda), which in all reality no one can consider that a BAD day now can they?

Phone Call

2008-08-27T23:54:00.001-05:00

Around 2:33pm my cell phone rang and I answered to here Hannah's voice at the other end. She excitedly exclaimed, "Daddy! I just went poop!"

Young Michael Phelps

2008-08-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

via Squarespace and beautifully illustrated by Patrick Moberg.

The Man

2008-08-20T23:35:00.000-05:00

I meant to post something yesterday but got caught up in the day to day activities. Yesterday marked the 10th year that my dad Michael Guymon passed away. It's funny how the memory of that day sits on my mind as if it was yesterday. I can remember how the sky was partly cloudy, but the sun was shining bright in an almost insulting manner. The day, since then hasn't really been a memorable day. In the sense that I treat it as any other day. I suppose I feel like that's what he would want me to do. He stays fresh on my mind on a daily basis anyways. I frequently have vivid dreams about him. Some where I know he is dead and everything remains the same, and I even ask him in the dream about where he has been, and catching him up on things in my life. I have others where it is as if he never did die. I can still remember small details like exactly how it feels to hug my father...

I can't believe it has been 10 years.

I had planned on doing one of three things in memory of The Man:
1.) Drink a cherry coke fountain drink
2.) Drink a chocolate malt
3.) Eat a banana split

Sadly none of the three happened. It was a refreshing day though. When I say that I don't mean to sound as if something extraordinary occurred, but rather I just got caught up in the daily grind of life. I went to work came home (realized I left my cell phone at work) filled a cup full of Mountain Dew went out to the pool with Hannah, & Heather. I read an interesting article in a HOW magazine as Hannah swam. She kept filling this small little toy milk jug with water and bringing it to me to pretend to drink it, and she would giggle. Heather and I enjoyed one anothers company and just had small talk as Hannah played in the pool. We then went inside gave Hannah a bath and Heather left to attend a meeting for church, and I stayed home and kicked it with Hannah solo. I was watching the olympics as Hannah informed me that she needed to get ready for her ballet class. So she brought me her ballerina skirt, and then her "matching" shirt, and then she found her sparkly pink shoes and fluffy white socks. I helped her get ready and she kissed me good bye and off she went on her scooter to her room where she shut her bedroom door. A few minutes later she returned announcing, "I'M BACK!" She continued to run back and forth from her bedroom to me to announce different things until 9:30 rolled around and I decided she needed to go to bed. So we said a prayer (she said it) and off she went to bed where she played until Heather got home after 10:00. I don't think she went to bed until after 10:30 and I stayed up playing on the computer doing some design stuff. I went to bed around 11:30 or 12:00.

In some ways I feel like that is some what insulting to my father, in others I feel like that is how he would want it to be. I think I should of at least crossed one of those three items off my list though.

Smash!

2008-08-10T23:41:00.000-05:00

So four little pansy's in France decided to talk a little smack, and when asked about the American relay team Alain Bernard said, “The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for.” (full story)

And instead, "The oldest man on the U.S. swimming team pulled off one of the great comebacks in Olympic history Monday morning, lunging to the wall just ahead of France's Alain Bernard in a race so fast it actually erased two world records." (full story)

I was seriously on my feet yelling, "TAKE THAT FRENCHIES!!!" As my man Jason Lezak began walking down them Frenchies on the last leg of the race. As he touched the last wall I started to see that he had a chance, and I was on my feet cheering him on, and when he touched the wall before France I was almost in tears in excitement! Prolly one of the best comebacks I've watched on TV.

So Take That France! (If you didn't know I despise the Frenchies, especially when they talk trash about my country, I only allow myself one Frenchy to like and that spot has been filled by the lucky Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns). I wish I could of found a picture of the reaction on "Team France" after it happened, it was PRICELESS!

IE 6 : (

2008-08-09T13:45:00.002-05:00

“IE 6 is a last-generation browser. This means that IE 6 can’t provide the same web experience that modern browsers can. Continued support of IE 6 means that we can’t optimize our interfaces or provide an enhanced customer experience in our apps. Supporting IE 6 means slower progress, less progress, and, in some places, no progress. We want to make sure the experience is the best it can be for the vast majority of our customers, and continuing to support IE 6 holds us back.”

Click here to read the full article.

Let's hope this means the end to IE6 is quickly approaching us.

That's Not Funny

2008-08-08T00:12:00.000-05:00

We had just come inside from a "National Night Out" party our Apartment Complex put on with some free Bar-B-Que out by the swimming pool. We gave Hannah a bath, and we were all sitting down watching TV, and Hannah is munching on a brownie and saying, "I wanna watch 101 Dalmatians (only I can't spell how she really tries to pronounce it which is MUCH cuter)."

Heather says, "No! you are about to have to go to bed."

So lately Hannah is on this HUGE why kick, where she has to ask "WHY?" after everything you say. So of course casually as she is picking pieces of chocolate off of her brownie, she asks, "Why do I have to go to bed?"

So I jump in to play her little game and I say something like, "Cause it's time to go to bed."

Hannah: "Why?"
Me: "Because after the sun goes down and it get's dark outside you have to go to bed."
Hannah: (without looking up, but instead she remains focused on picking at her brownie she says in the most casual nonchalant tone) "That's not funny..."

I'm not really sure if that did it any justice, because when it actually happened, it was the funniest thing of the day. I just busted up laughing, and I think at first Heather was in some sort of shock, or perhaps it took a little bit to register and she just looked down at Hannah who just maintained focus, and Heather also started busting up with laughter. Finally after I laughed for a good minute straight Hannah seemed to realize that we thought what SHE did was funny, so then she kept saying, "That's NOT funny!" It's times like those that I wish my memory functioned more like a digital camera recording reality so I could just hook myself up to a computer and replay it over and over again.

Brown Eyes

2008-08-04T09:36:00.000-05:00

As I am leaving home to go to work this morning, I am making my way from the bedroom where I gave Hannah a hug told her I loved her, and that I was going to work. I then made my way around the bed and extended a hug and kiss to Heather as well. I walk out of the bedroom and make my way to the kitchen with Hannah trotting almost fluttering behind me dressed in her baby blue Cinderella princess gown. I grab a plastic bag full of leftovers from the fridge and I give Hannah one last hug and kiss, and she tells me she is going to wait there for me to leave. I tell her I will see her later and open the door and walk out and right before the door closes I hear her shout, "I love your brown eyes!"

So I chuckle and open the door quickly to see no one standing in the doorway anymore, but I yell back, "I love your beautiful blue eyes."

Then I hear her say, "Thank you!"

Then with a smile on my face I make my way to my car and venture to work. I think it's going to be a great Monday today!

Featured

2008-07-28T21:48:00.001-05:00

In my attempts to master the ways of the interweb I have spent the last year and a half reading books and websites to gain a Jedi-esque knowledge of the web standards as described by the W3C

"W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines. Since 1994, W3C has published more than 110 such standards, called W3C Recommendations. W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software, and serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web. In order for the Web to reach its full potential, the most fundamental Web technologies must be compatible with one another and allow any hardware and software used to access the Web to work together. W3C refers to this goal as “Web interoperability.” By publishing open (non-proprietary) standards for Web languages and protocols, W3C seeks to avoid market fragmentation and thus Web fragmentation."

(In other words I am a HUGE Geek!)

So recently I have been able to successfully validate both my XHTML and my CSS (Cascading Style Sheets.) In doing so I have been able to get my website ShaneGuymon.com to be featured on these websites:

I'd like to thank these websites and online galleries for adding my website to large quantity of standards compliant websites out their on this world wide web we all enjoy. As a small token of my gratitude I have added a section on my sidebar which is titled Featured On which has links to the different sites that have featured or showcased my website.

Shane Guymon: The Blog

NEW BLOG!!!!

Moving On

Hannah & Pongo

Good News for People Who Love Bad News

The Jumper

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

WORK RELATED NEWS

PERSONAL RELATED NEWS

Shane Observed

QUESTION

Shane Recommends

Formula to Happiness

THE PREFACE

THE FORMULA

CREATING ESCAPES

MOVING FORWARD

IN CLOSING

RELATED:

80 Percenter

Still Fighting

Where the Wild Things Are

Pongo & the Slide

Over a Bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup

Ruh Roh!

Your Problem Solved!

Are You Color Blind?

How do you know if you are color blind?

Why All This Color Blind Talk?

Represent

For Sale

First Month

Cannon Ball!

New House

11 Random Facts About Michael Guymon

Two Weeks: Grizzly Bear

A Few Movies I'm Looking Forward to Hitting My Local Theaters

Stop following directions and start designing

Her Morning Elegance

Hannah Can Swim

Connor Michael Guymon

Here's the story:

IQ font = Awesome

4th of July

Hide & Seek

Good, Great, Greatest

GOOD:

GREAT:

GREATEST:

CLOSING REMARKS

Growing Up

Celebrating Four Years of Life!

Bing?

TypeKit

Don't Chase Money

Which is the fastest browser?

FUNday!

Summer Fun in the Sun!

Space Walking

Lessons of the Heart

The Beauty of Forgiveness

Enjoying the Sound

Dr. Appointment

SXSW Interactive: Day One

Why Mormons Build Temples

Comcast Goes Juno

The Dr. Sees a Penis!

Proud

Keywords and Terms Practice Cafe ranks well in:

Howm I Gon Get Clean!

Sincere Sounds for the Soul

SXSW Interactive: 2009

Giraffe Shirt Update

Giraffe Shirt

Harvey Danger: Little By Little

Bloc Party

Yet Another Reason to Hate Internet Explorer

Don't Miss Tonight...

25 Random Things About Me!

Smile!