Golden Birthday

Over the weekend I celebrated my "golden" birthday, I turned 23 on the 23rd of September. I got a lot of cool gifts: Stephanie bought me Mario Kart DS, Gross Point Blank, and Metal: A Headbangers Journey. Kelly and Laurence bought me some new clothes to wear to my new job. Shalese got me some much needed cookie sheets (and cookies!). And my parents gave me money which I used to get an umbrella and my sixth tattoo (pictures coming soon). My mom cooked dinner for all of us and afterwards Steph and I went out to see Jet Li's Fearless. I didn't realize it was going to be subtitled, but I don't mind that, and it turned out to be a really good movie. So that was my birthday weekend, I'll post more about my new job and tattoo in the coming days. 'Til then, Rock On!

August 2007

The date for the wedding has been set (almost): the 4th of August 2007. So go ahead and mark your calendars! The reception will be held at Grazie! Banquets in Des Plaines, IL (1050 East Oakton Street) - the location of the ceremony has yet to be decided. More information on the wedding to follow when I get it.

Two Weeks Notice

September 15th, 2006 marks my last day as an employee of SPSS, Inc. ending my two and a half years of employment at the company. I have gone from an Intern Web Developer to an Associate Quality Assurance Engineer to finally an (unofficial) Associate Software Engineer. I want to thank the variety of people I have worked with at SPSS, Inc. from the members of the Web Team in ITS to the folks in QA and the Text Mining Development group for all of the opportunities they have given me (and the marketing and events departments for given me so much web work to do ;-).

25th Anniversary

My parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this past Saturday (their actual anniversary is today) and are now soaking up the sun about an hour south of Cancun in Riviera Maya, Mexico. My parents renewed their vows at Saint Hubert Church after the 4:30pm mass (at which my sister and I were late for at no fault of our own) followed by food and drink at their house until the wee hours of the morning. I got up bright and early on Labor day (okay, not so bright... it was 3:00am) to take them to O'Hare International Airport so they could enjoy a real honeymoon in Mexico. Congratulations!

Updated: September 11th, 2006

During their week in Mexico, my parents stayed at the Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret which is adjacent to the Xcaret Eco Archaeological Theme Park. This was their first trip outside the United States since they have been married and they enjoyed it so much that they invested in a bi-annual timeshare option and plan to get passports. Next time, remember to bring a cell phone! They had to take a taxi home from O'hare because after about two hours of looking, my parents and my sister could not find each other at the airport.