May

Birthday, new job, short vacation... lots going on on May!

Spamalot was hilarious! Got to see it on my birthday. Also got to spend part of my birthday week with with my favorite person -- my mom. :) This week I get to go home for a bit before I start my new job.

Though I had not planned on making a change this soon (do I ever? LOL), I'm looking forward to starting something new back with MGM MIRAGE. It's on a corporate level so it's different than anything I've done at any of the properties. And technically, I'm a Bellagio employee again. How's that for irony?

Maroon 5's new album. Took me a couple of listens to get into it, but it's very good!

Happy Birthday to my mom & Liz!

JDM

It could have been anywhere.

Scary how close this is!

Thanks to Asya for introducing this site... pretty cute!

Typical outfit, and pretty much what my desk looks like!

Lounge Pop

Without even knowing it, I've become a fan of a musical genre called "lounge-pop." During my senior year of high school I fell in love with The Cardigans and had their "First Band on the Moon" CD on constant repeat in my car. It had this sound that I couldn't put my finger on, like I'd heard it in some 60's sitcom or something. Very retro and upbeat, with Nina Persson's light, girly voice a candy-coating on the addicting melodies. It remains my favorite of all their albums.

Today, my favorite celebrity gossip blog provided me with another great band: the bird and the bee. Perezhilton.com had the following to say:


After doing some research, I'm finding some other great artists that have this same "lounge-pop" label. One artist, Nathalie Nordnes, has some music available on myspace, but I cannot find where to buy her album "Join Me In The Park." The one download site I could find was in Swedish. I can't read the instructions so I most definitely wasn't going to supply my credit card info! Hopefully I'll find something soon. I look forward to researching this genre a bit more. In my opinion, there is nothing better than new music and finding your next favorite song!

First Wine Walk of the season.

If someone didn't know what I did for a living and they saw my desk, they'd probably think I had a very strange job -- which I guess I do. Sticking out from the requisite office supplies and sticky-notes are the following: 4 yellow plastic shovels, a bag of golden easter eggs, a box of velcro, and a bottle of white wine (I don't drink). I could, of course, explain the existence of each, but that would take all the fun out of it.

The first wine walk was a definite success! The stores were busy which means happy tenants. I like happy tenants. We had to battle wind, clouds, and the biggest wine event in the valley and we still got great numbers! I think that says a lot for the event.

Next weekend is the art festival, which I am so looking forward to! I have a great art director who handles most of the coordination, so it's one of the easiest events for the Village.

I am exhausted from this 12.5 hour day and am going to sleep for at least 10 hours.

JDM

Easter 2008.

Opening night at the Bullring!

Trying to see how I'd fit in one of these...



...quite nicely!



These might be a bit small...



Gentry Pisca, winner of the Modified division race.



Cleaning up a wreck during the Late Model race.



Bullring flagstand.



After a crash during the Legend Cars race, they had to take the roof off to get the driver, Josh Gross, out of the car.



Working to get the driver out. He was T-boned by another car going 60mph!



The other car involved being hauled away.


So much fun, I think we're going again tomorrow night!

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Start/Finish Line at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- Qualifying Day

Watching cars qualify from the LVRJ suite.

Fuel burning out of the 24 car after Jeff's qualifying lap!

Me in the suite!

Crewman waiting for the 48's turn to qualify.

Jack Roush.

Ryan and Chrissy Newman.

Greg Biffle said hi to us!

Matt Kenseth.

Inpection process on Ricky Rudd and Jeff Gordon's car.

Jimmie!

The back of Reed Sorenson.

Kasey Kahne signing autographs.

On pit road during Qualifying.

Race Day
Kevin "Happy" Harvick's pit box.

Kasey Kahne's pit box.

Jeff Gordon's pit box.

Jimmie Johnson's pit box -- notice the championship hat :)

On the new track surface -- that banking is steep!

At UNLV they're called the E-Z D-Z's...

They all sucked.

Every last one of 'em.

Daytona. 'Nuff said.

First event of the season!

Lots of worrying. Lots of work. But a total home run! Good turnout. V. happy! Thank goodness it's over. Now, on to St. Patrick's Day...

This and that.

I recently discovered that I have a burner in my laptop! That is just so kick-ass. No more transferring files to the PC. Love it. And I can continue working on the laptop without fear of it interrupting the burning process. So THIS is what's it's like to have real technology...

Good day at work. Our sponsor for Jazz on the Lake came through for 75k! Plus, the series has been shortened to 4 months instead of 7! I'll actually be able to concentrate on one event at a time!

I think I may have gotten our annual car show taken over by one of the local car clubs. This is great because there was a chance we weren't going to be able to put it on ourselves, and it was a great event. But it looks like we won't lose it after all!

Dieting SUCKS. I'm constantly hungry. I've done well today with portion control and I'm headed to the gym tonight. I can't wait to start seeing results. I have a reunion in just over 8 months!

JDM

Opportunity

I always do this. I get so worked up over an "if". An "if" isn't a real thing until it's not an "if" anymore. And anything can change. And anything did.

Opportunity comes and goes. Feast or famine. Drought or flood. Last night I was asking "why does this always happen to me" when it was still an "if". Now it's not.

Why does this always happen to me?

And no, I don't want to talk about it. I'm done.

JDM

Lyrics I Like

There was staring and seclusion,
A fine tuned way of motion,
A face wrapped for a suitor,
The sound of hearts
pumping at the same beat,
Coming 'round the corner,
In almost all directions,
A sense of heat
that I couldn't bare to touch,
No, I couldn't bare it.

Kenneth Andersson

The Swedish Milk Corporation

Gemini


From the book "Lilla Pussboken" (Little Kisses)