Author Archives: Luke - Page 2

Engagement Ring Diary

Posted by on December 14, 2008 No comments

October 8, 2008 – Tonight I was in San Diego for work (which is just about every other week). After a few beers with coworkers I made the nightly “girlfriend call” and I mentioned to Christie that she should go to a jewelry store to get her finger sized so I knew what size ring to get. Obviously she was caught off guard and said that she wanted me to go with her because she was nervous. After a few minutes I agreed to go with her because that is the type of guy I am.

October 9, 2008 – When I got back from San Diego I went over to Christie’s for dinner since I had not seen her in 5 days. When I walked in the door she was really excited to see me and I just assumed it is because we haven’t seen each other in a while. We hug then move on to pressing matters; I was hungry and she had a burger on the George Foreman for me. After I finish eating it we turn on Grey’s Anatomy and within 10 minutes she said “I have a present for you.” Oh crap, I forgot it was our 1 year celebration of our first date tomorrow. I told her that I didn’t get anything for her and she didn’t mind. She handed me a card and I opened it to find a perfect card (won’t divulge what it said) and pictures of rings she tried on that she liked. That’s why she was so giddy! 

October 14, 2008 – Today I planned on going to a jeweler to start the process but I chickened out justifying that I should wait to take care of it tomorrow since I needed to be around work in case something breaks.

October 15, 2008 – Today was the day I made my venture to the jeweler. I hemmed and hawed over if I should go or not but then I thought that if Christie could do it,  so could I. I grabbed the pictures Christie gave me so I had a reference of what she liked and headed out the door. When I got in the elevator it felt like the floor dropped out but it was actually my stomach. For all the time I spent thinking about it this was the first time that it seemed real. I know it is the right decision but I am still nervous about buying a ring. Not for what it stands for but the fact that I am actually buying a ring. The one block walk to the jeweler went way too fast, I needed more time or some excuse to turn around but I couldn’t back out now. I went to the third floor where they are located and walked to the door to find out that they were closed for the day. DAMNIT. The journey continues….

October 16, 2008 – Today I made my way to the jeweler and when they asked me how they could help me and I stumbled over saying “I guess I need to look for an engagement ring.” Now this wasn’t their first rodeo so they maintained their calm while my stomach was doing some sort of exotic dance that I can’t do. I was introduced to a salesperson and told she would help take care of me. First off she wanted to know what I was looking for (aka how much I could spend) and she was very polite and helped put me at ease. She then disappeared into the back room and came back with a handful of pouches that contained different diamonds. Over the next 45 minutes she showed me various stones of different sizes, shapes and varying quality so I could see what I was up against. Wow, if I thought the decision was tough before it just got 100 times worse. She brought out round cuts, princess cuts, ascher cuts, radiant cuts and that is just the shape! I had to learn about clarity and color all the while trying to keep things in order so I knew what I was looking at and what I was looking for. She had me look at the diamonds through a magnifying piece and that was an art form all of it’s own. A couple times she pointed out imperfections and told me where to look and I just said “Yeah, I see that” even though I couldn’t see a damn thing. At the end I came out with some knowledge but still confused. I don’t know if I’m supposed to pick the ring first then pick the diamond that looks good in it or pick the diamond I want then pick a setting that makes it look good (I’m leaning towards the latter). Whew, time to breathe…

October 23, 2008 – Today I opened the flood gates. I setup a Google Document so Christie and I could put pictures and links to rings that we liked and she could add her feedback on them. No less than 20 minutes after I set it up and sent her the note was there a ring in there. Keep in mind, this is about 9:00 AM and we are both at work so it isn’t what either of us are supposed to be doing but that seem to get in the way. By lunch I threw in links to 3 rings I found and by 2:00 she left her feedback for me. When I got home from work there were about 8 more rings in there for me to look at. I gotta say, she has good taste and I’m sure I’ll be paying for it soon!

November 17, 2008 – Today I went to another jeweler to get a different perspective and I’m glad I did. When I told this jeweler what my budget was they said that wouldn’t be a problem and proceeded to show me diamonds that were 50% larger than the last store I went to. I really enjoyed my time with this guy and he made it seem like it wouldn’t be a problem to get the ring I want at the price I want in the timeframe I want (5 weeks from today!).  As I was leaving he gave me his card and put down 4 websites I should look at to find the right ring for me. Being the managerial type that I am I gave the links to Christie and sent her to work. Soon there were about 24 rings in the spreadsheet for me to peruse so I could figure out what she likes, what she doesn’t like and hopefully I can come up with the perfect ring. 5 weeks seems like a lot of time but with my travel schedule I figure I need to be on the ball plus  I have heard horror stories of guys getting messed up rings or delays in delivery. Gotta figure this one out soon.

November 29, 2008 – I just spent Thanksgiving with Christie’s family and it was  a lot of fun. I met her brother and his two boys and they were very nice and did not put me through the ringer. We came home today and sat throgh 3.5 hours of driving home through a crazy storm but I had someplace to go. My jeweler, Lauren Diamonds, had some diamonds for me to see and I wanted to look at them today since I am leaving for San Diego tomorrow. They close at 3:00 and we were still in Georgetown at 2:45, uh oh. I called and they said they would stick around for me but I drove pretty fast since the roads were okay. Christie and I have been talking about getting engaged for a while so I told her I needed to run by my jeweler to look at some diamonds and she agreed to go there but not go in. When I got there Gary (the owner) asked if I wanted a beer…. Christie can drive, right? Helen (my salesperson) brought out a beautiful round diamond that is bigger than I expected and showed it to me and told me the surprising price. Before we looked at another diamond I said “done” and that was that. Now I have a diamond but I need to pick a setting…

December 1, 2008 – Today I needed to decide on the setting so I can get the ring by this weekend. I spent this morning pouring over hundreds of rings (again) trying to find the perfect ring. I printed out 5 that I thought were awesome and headed to Lauren Diamonds to get a better idea based on the catalog and price (I do have a buget after all). When I got there I quickly got rid of 3 of them because they can’t hold the diamond because it’s too big (BOOYAH) or cost half as much as the diamond. I was down to two rings and one really stuck out in my mind so I went with that one. Of course that was one of the first rings I found that I liked so I felt pretty good about it. Next thing I knew they had my credit card and we are off to the races.

December 6, 2008 – Today was a great day, sort of. I had this grand plan to pick up the ring then head straight up to Christie’s parents house to talk to them. I was hanging out with Christie before she left for for an overnight birthday celebration for a friend in Keystone but  she didn’t leave until 12:30. I didn’t want to drive up there and get stuck or have a 3 hour drive home so I decided to head up tomorrow. After my lazy saturday morning I drove down to Denver to pick up the ring. When I got there they showed me the ring and it was awesome. I gave them my credit card again and boom, it was done. I left the store and I had my eye on everyone thinking that they knew I had a small fortune in my pocket and they intend to steal it. They knew I was a ninja so they left me alone. When I got to my car I decided to take another peek at it and again; I was in awe. I went home and looked at it some more. She has to love the ring, it is beautiful. Everywhere I went I took it with me to make sure nobody stole it. 

December 7, 2008 – Today was the day I went to Christie’s parents house and begged them to let me ask her to marry me. This is a story all in itself so you will have to read that post.

December 9, 2008 – Today I added a couple of rings to the spreadsheet to try and throw Christie off some more so the the 12th (when I propose) is a real surprise. Tonight after dinner I had her pull them up to make sure she got a good look and I also had her pull up the ring I bought her. It was awesome, as she looked through about a dozen rings she kept the one I bought open the entire time and said it was her favorite. Now I feel really good about my decision and she will love it. I hope she doesn’t think I bought it after tonight…

Here it is

ring

Begging for Acceptance

Posted by on December 14, 2008 1 comment

December 7, 2008 – Today is the day. Well, the first “the day” of this week. Today I am going to ask Christie’s parents permission to ask Christie to marry me.

I am a little nervous about actually saying anything to her parents as I have a fear of public speaking (anyone besides myself counts as public speaking) so I try to focus on my trip to and from Silverthorne. The front tires on my car have been bald for a few months so I get a little concerned. Will I get stuck, get in an accident, hydroplane and fly off a cliff? I’m starting to freak out but I hit the trail anyway.

I am on target to get there at noon which I think is perfect. They should be finishing up a nice sandwich with a salad, maybe a glass of wine, and I will get to attack them when they are no longer hungry and much more likely to agree to anything since I am in the way of their nap. My estimation was great and I got there right at noon. After a few failed attempts to get up their driveway due to my bald tires I parked my car at the end of their street and walked the rest of the way. Too bad they weren’t there.

I called Chirstie’s dad (I stole his phone number from Christie’s phone earlier) and left him a vague message saying I was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by. He couldn’t crack that code, right? I hiked back to my car and started a vigorous game of Brickbreaker on my Blackberry. After 15 minutes I figured that they probably went to lunch and he probably didn’t want to answer his phone while eating so I decided to send him a text message thinking he might glance at it. Here is what I sent: “I think my attempt at a surprise is dead now but I would like to ask you a question in person. Can you give me a call? Luke.”

At this point I am getting hungry since I forgot to eat breakfast due to my nerves.  At 12:45 I started to head back to Silverthorne to grab some food to wait it out. I went to Wendy’s and indulged in a Spicy Chicken Sandwich combo then went back to their house at 1:15. I managed to get my car most of the way up their driveway and parked there and continued my quest at Brickbreaker.

At 1:45 I decided to head home to make sure I didn’t get stuck in traffic or die due to ice so I started back down to Silverthorne. As I pulled out of the driveway they pulled in. I raised my arms in victory and followed them back to their house. I managed to get my car up the driveway again avoiding any embarrassment (at least on that front) and helped them carry some groceries into the house. After a few minutes of regular chit-chat I said “So I know you guys aren’t stupid…” then her dad told me to take a seat on the couch and to relax. Apparently I was visibly nervous and can’t wait to hear their side of the story. I probably had sweat marks and a voice like a 12 year old boy going through puberty.

We have another light exchange then I dive into it. As I am telling them how in love I am with their daughter and how special she is to me I see her mother start to tear up. Man, I hope those are happy tears! After I stumble over myself I manage to pull a Luke and make a joke before they can answer: “Feel free to play 20 questions with me before you answer.”

This part is a little fuzzy to me know. I think I have so much adrenaline that once I finished talking I was exhausted and blood started flowing to the rest of my body again. I am pretty sure they said yes in there somewhere. I hugged her mom and shook her dad’s hand then we worked out the dowry. I owe them a cow, 2 chickens, a 30-pack of Keystone Light and some Broncos tickets. Just kidding. Since everything was out on the table I showed them the ring I picked up the day before. Some things happened that I promised I wouldn’t speak of and they both seemed excited.

I stuck around for another 30-45 minutes just talking and telling them more about me and my family. We also spoke about Christie and this part kind of felt like dealing with a real estate agent going over full disclosure of what I am about get into. They were saying that sometimes Christie can be a handful and my response was “I haven’t seen that at all. Is this going to change once she gets the ring?” I have said that to Christie before too so I feel safe writing it here. Honestly I am not worried about it at all. We have spent enough time with each other that we know who the other person really is. I am myself around Christie, idiot and all, and she is okay with it.

It’s around 2:15 and her father looks outside and comments on the traffic. Either he is trying to get rid of me or looking out for me. I’m going with the latter. I do need to hit the road so I don’t get stuck in traffic and I also need to beat Christie home so she doesn’t think anything is up. Another round of hugs and handshakes and I’m out the door with an enthusiastic “Welcome to the family” from her father. What a great day.

Dirty 30

Posted by on December 11, 2008 No comments

I will probably update this throughout the day to keep people apprised of how my birthday is going

7:00 – Christie surprised me and cooked me breakfast. We had sausage, hash browns, a bagel with cream cheese, orange juice and some coffee.

8:20 – I didn’t miss my bus.

9:00 – My office has been rearranging cubes this week so all my stuff is in a box. They also took my filing drawer which had my receipts from my last trip. Finance better not hassle me about this one…

9:45 – Better call my mom since it is her birthday too! Happy Birthday Mom. You haven’t had one in 30 years so maybe I will relinquish my rights and let you have the fun now.

11:45 – Went to lunch at the Denver Diner with some coworkers. Had my favorite Chile Rellenos and now it’s time for a nap. Or work. Maybe both.

1:00 – My coworkers brough out a German chocolate cake. I have no room for more food but I will do my best.

4:00 – I can barely keep my eyes open.

5:30 – I catch the bus and decide to take a little nap.

6:05ish – I wake myself up by snoring on the bus. I don’t move so the guy next to me thinks I’m still asleep.

8:00 – Head to the Walnut Brewery for dinner with Christie. I had the Brown Ale Chicken with a Brown Ale Beer (my favorite) and it was amazing.

9:00 – My friends Ryan and Amanda joined Christie and I for some drinks and we had a great time.

11:00 – Bed time, I’m 30 now and can’t stay up late! What a great birthday and now it continues into the weekend….

SQL Server Change Table Owner Script

Posted by on November 3, 2008 No comments

Recently I ran into a problem where all of the table I created had my account as the owner instead of DBO and I wanted a way to change the owner without doing a lot of work (I’m lazy). I also realized it would happen again so I created a script to do it for me. Here it is:

CREATE procedure ChangeTableOwnerToDBO
as

DECLARE @table nvarchar(1024)
DECLARE  mytables CURSOR FOR

SELECT NAME FROM sysobjects WHERE xtype = ‘u’ AND USER_ID() = uid AND uid != 1

OPEN mytables

FETCH NEXT FROM mytables into @table

IF @@FETCH_STATUS = -1
    BEGIN
        PRINT ‘No tables owned by you to reset!’
    END

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
    BEGIN
        PRINT ‘Reassigning owner of ‘ + @table + ‘ to DBO’

        exec sp_changeobjectowner @table, ‘dbo’

        FETCH NEXT FROM mytables into @table
    END

CLOSE mytables
DEALLOCATE mytables

How to have a REAL presidential debate

Posted by on October 19, 2008 No comments

I don’t think I am alone with my disdain for the way politicians “answer” questions. How many times in the debates did we see the moderator ask a question that required a “yes” or a “no” or even a specific number that was never answered? I can’t even count how many times. I really hate the convoluted language used for answering questions so here are the rules I think should be instituted for a debate:

 

  1. Each candidate gets 30 seconds to thank everyone for being there before the first question is asked.
  2. The moderator asks a question and each candidate gets the opportunity to answer.
  3. Each candidate will be allowed 60 seconds to answer the question. After 60 seconds their microphone is automatically turned off.
  4. When the candidate is answering the question they are only allowed to refer to their platform. They may not speak in any way about their opponent or their platform.
  5. If the candidate does not answer the moderators question the moderator will allow them 10 seconds to deliver the answer. If the answer is still not received they lose 30 seconds off their next answer.
  6. After each candidate answers the question they will both have 1 minute to counter their opponents statements. This is the only time they are allowed to refer to their opponents platform.
  7. Time penalties add up and carry over until all penalties have been served.
  8. Each candidate will get 2 minutes to deliver their closing remarks. In this time period they are allowed to counter any statement the other candidate made but only the statements they made.
Scoring
  • For each violation of speaking about their opponent 15 seconds will be removed from their next answer.
  • Fact Checkers will verify each statement and give +1 true statements or -1 for false statements.
  • For every 2 points deducted the speaker will lose 15 seconds off their next answer.
  • Time deductions can carry over into closing remarks.
I think this would be a good format as it would allow the candidates to speak about their stance and their platform without wasting time refuting what the other candidate says about them. They are also compelled to be frank about the issues due to the short time they are allotted. With fact checkers in place they would need to avoid making false claims because they would be penalized.
I know this isn’t perfect but I get frustrated watching the debates (thank God they are over) and would like to actually hear more about the issues instead of each candidate delivering blows or covering their ass.

Luke Rogers – Seattle, Washington

Posted by on October 15, 2008 No comments

Recently I was looking at my logs to see how people were getting to my blog and I saw some queries that disturbed me so I plugged them into Google. What I found was a 19 year old from Seattle that shares my name recently died in a boating accident in Lake Powell. I don’t know him but I read many kind words about him on another blog (Good Life Northwest).  You can find his notice here. At this point it is still a story about someone I didn’t know until I get to the comments and find a link to a YouTube video that shows Luke singing. Here is that video:

He was 19 years old and sings like a pro. Moments like this make you realize what you have.

Subliminal Politics

Posted by on October 6, 2008 No comments

The other day I was listening to music on Pandora and came across the following advertisement:

It’s looks like a pretty standard ad pushing people to register to vote so that can partake in arguable the most improtant election ever but upon closer inspection it is apparent that there is a much more targeted meaning behind the ad. Did you notice the innocuous “to vote for” slipped in there? They are no longer encouraging people to get out and vote but more pointedly vote for Barack Obama.

Now, I still don’t know who I am going to vote for but thought this ad was “funny.”

jQuery Check All Checkboxes by Section

Posted by on September 28, 2008 No comments

Recently I needed to allow users to check all checkboxes in a given section or the entire page. This is really easy to do with jQuery so let’s get to the sample:

Check All on this page

Check All in this group
Group 1 Check 1
Group 1 Check 2
Group 1 Check 3
Group 1 Check 4
Check All in this group
Group 2 Check 1
Group 2 Check 2
Group 2 Check 3
Group 2 Check 4

Here are the basics of the code:

jQuery Check All Checkboxes

The implementation can be done inline (as I did) or by creating an event handler via $(Document).ready();

The key points with the code is how the selectors grab the correct checkboxes to check/uncheck. The top checkbox grabs all of the checkboxes on the page and the inner checkbox grabs all of the checkboxes that are contained within the specified table. Once the checkboxes have been found their status is set to the status of the checkbox being used (all or section only).

Manners for Political Discussions

Posted by on September 28, 2008 No comments

I spent the last 5 days with two guys that describe themselves as “bleeding democrats.” We worked together during the day then went for drinks at the hotel bar at night. We discussed many topics ranging from work problems, funny stories from the past, and of course, politics.

Given that these two guys are registered Democrats and very pro Obama they were speaking very highly of him and poking fun at McCain. I am an independent and don’t know who I am going to vote for but I was still able to have very healthy conversations with them for the entire week. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they handled me not being on their “team” and respecting what I had to say. Here are the tips I got from the conversations on how to act on both sides:

  • Do feel free to express your thoughts. It is a discussion.
  • Do listen to what people have to say. Again, it is a discussion.
  • Ask questions when someone makes a point that you don’t agree with or understand but make sure you ask it in a non-threatening way.
  • Stay calm.
  • If you are speaking with someone that knows what they are talking about, pick their brain. In this situation they are most likely more than happy to talk about it.

In the past I have had political conversations with people that turn into arguments instead. Here are my thoughts on the wrong way to do it.

  • Belittle someone for having an oppinion that differs from yours.
  • Laugh at a point they make.
  • Yell.
  • Cut them off mid-sentence.
  • Don’t listen.
  • Speak about things you know nothing or very little about and act like your word is the law.

These are all things that I thought people learned in kindergarten but apparently I was wrong. My mom was right, I am smarter than all the other kids.

Why I Haven’t Chosen Who To Vote For

Posted by on September 26, 2008 No comments

I am a software developer by trade and have a scientific mind by nature. I am very good at quick and to the point. I don’t like wasting time. I understand this is one of my downfalls and I am trying to use this blog to improve my delivery of thoughts and ideas. Back to it though (nature wins again)

I am 100% actively not paying attention to what candidates are saying right now because they are just dancing around the real questions. I will start paying attention the last month before when they start putting together charts of where each candidate stands on major issues. I don’t like hearing a 5 minute ramble that doesn’t completely answer the question when it could be one or two sentences.

Most people like me don’t want to hear a candidate ramble about things related to an issue in hopes they can dodge actually answering the question. Ask a candidate what their stance is on abortion and they will start talking about educating people about birth control and instilling family values and whatever else they can think of. Get to it; are you pro-life or pro-choice? When it comes to taxing don’t sit there and tell me how you are going to help America get back on it’s feet and make life better for everyone. Tell me what taxes you are going to implement/cut, who it’s going to affect and by how much.

Give me the meat. Leave the parsely in the kitchen.