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No Health Benefits Tax

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We Said, "I Do"

Last Wednesday, Charles and I decided it was finally time to get married. We've been talking about it for sometime now, but we admitted there simply wasn't going to be that perfect time when we looked the way we wanted to look, to have saved the money we would have liked to have saved, etc., etc.

For those of you that don't know our story, Charles and I aren't really sure when we first met, but we were in the same schools from 7th grade through high school graduation. Charles grew up in Brazoria, Texas and I grew up in West Columbia, Texas. Our two towns and a small little village, Wild Peach, combined at the 7th grade to form our secondary and high school years. We knew each other back then mostly because it was a small school and everyone knew everyone. We went through high school together, but were never really friends or ever close associates. I don't think we even had a single class together, but looking through old yearbooks we find that we were involved in drama together at some point.

At our 15 year high school reunion we caught each other's attention, but never pursued anything.

Then at our 20 year reunion we found ourselves single and still eager to see one another. That was August 19, 2006. A few weeks later Charles left Baton Rouge for one of his first visits to Austin. By the end of September 2006 Charles and I were living together.

Not exactly on my agenda or on his. It was a huge surprise to my family, friends and coworkers and honestly I wasn't sure if it was a good idea at all.

The following May we purchased our home in Round Rock.

I couldn't have planned our relationship better if I had tried. It had to be a God thing.

Every day that we are together we laugh more and more and appreciate each other's goofy humor. We balance each other out and make up for each other's shortcomings. We appreciate the differences that we bring to each other's lives.

We had been talking about getting married for some time and expected that it would take place this spring. When conversing last week about it we questioned what exactly are we waiting for?

Early Thursday morning Charles had already researched what we needed to do in order to make this union official. That afternoon we went to the courthouse in Georgetown to obtain our marriage license. Then on Friday after work we shopped and found a wedding ring for me. On Saturday I drove around for hours to find Charles' outfit and my dress. On Sunday we finalized the pieces for Charles outfit and purchased his ring.

On Friday, we also called my parents to let them know our big news. And it just so happens that they were planning on being in Austin today. The bonus is that my parents are pastors. My father mentioned that they were staying at a hotel on Ladybird Lake and he thought it would be a beautiful spot for a wedding.

With that we had all the elements that we needed.

• License? Check.
• Rings? Check.
• Wedding attire? Check.
• Wedding location? Check.
• Pastor? Check.
• Bride? Check.
• Groom? Check.

My mom and I stopped by Central Market and the guy in the floral area whipped up a lovely bouquet. I called my friend Alice and she joined the four of us down at Ladybird Lake for the 7 pm ceremony.

I was precious. Simple and sweet.

Afterwards we went to Bess Bistro on 6th street in Austin and then decided it would be fun to pop by Whole Foods on Lamar and pick out our individual pieces of "wedding cake."

As we began making plans for our big day, Charles said he'd like it to be something simple like in the movie Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. At the end of the movie it was just the two of them and an officiant standing on a hill.

Tonight our wedding was very close to that movie perfection and we are looking forward to many years together.

Thanks to those of you who reached out to us on Facebook and Twitter to send us your well wishes. We love you all!

It's Much More Than Your Sammich

For those that haven't yet tried Twitter or Facebook there seems to be a common thread of reasons such as:

Reason: I don't care what others ate . . . Reality: they think that all Twitter is about is posting what you ate last

Reason: I don't care to be found by classsmates . . . Reality: they think that classmates still suck or they're afraid to let them know they've either finally made it or are still searching for what will make them feel like they've made
it

Reason: I'm too busy to keep up with all those online things . . . Reality: they have no
idea how fast and easy it is to connect online

I ran across Laura Thomas' post and it really hit home. I agree that for me hanging out on social networks has allowed my world to expand exponentially both in a knowledge aspect as well as a connection one. I treasure the contacts I've made. I get a rush from the new things I learn everyday.

Thank you, Laura for your introduction of Austin Kleon!

Twitter Serves a Purposes During AT&T Outage

For those skeptics that wonder about how Twitter can serve a more business function this is a great story on how Twitter recently kept AT&T customers abreast of a situation in which their service was down.

AT&T Calls on Twitter During Outage

I'm Beginning To See The Light

Tonight I attended the Austin Technology Council's Tech Tailgate. An annual event and I was happy to get out and be encouraged by the attendance. Austin's technology community is not dead. In fact it's very vibrant and very alive.

I was encouraged to hear from Mike Mayeux, Founder and CEO of Novotus who always speaks from the heart and in particularly I enjoyed hearing him say,

"We (Austin) are on the front end of the rebound."

Here. Here. Mayeux! I wholeheartedly agree.

I'm hopeful. I'm watching candidates accept jobs. I'm watching companies turning their hiring plans back on. I'm watching as companies grow and stretch and tackle new challenges head on.

And then as I was shutting down my computer for the night I ran across one more piece of encouagement. Really. It really is encouraging. Peter Kim's post from a couple of days ago on the Dow when it FIRST hit 10,000.

Kudo's to Peter for keeping this piece of history and thank you kindly for reminding us to learn from where we are today and press on to greater things tomorrow.

Right Place Right Time to Hire

Lately it seems that every time I turn on the TV, radio or view a web page I'm see negative reports about people losing their jobs, the economy on a downward cycle or some other sad, sad story. It can be mighty depressing.

But then I see stories like this:

Hedge Talent For Hire But Few Can Recruit

The story reads just like most of the rest of the disappointing stories across the news waves, but this one struck me as hopeful.

The industry is now able to select from a wider pool of talent . . .

"Hopeful?" you wonder.

Yes, you know why? I'm a trader recruiter. Right now we are seeing better qualified candidates coming through our doors. We're inundated with talent that we may not have had a chance to speak to just six months ago.

I'm looking forward to this brave new world of talent ripe for the right place. Bring it on!

Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed at Austin's First Geek Breakfast - SXSW 2009

Dave Delaney was kind enough to host Austin's first Geek Breakfast at Hoovers on Sunday, March 15. It was mighty early, but I met some great people at my 8 am breakfast!



Thanks, Scott for the video!

Shame on you Bernard Madoff!

My world now consists of looking for and hiring traders. Outside of my office door is where our traders reside at Kershner Trading - all 150~ of them as of today. It's a world filled with lots of computer monitors and CNBC blaring from opening to closing bell

Today there is a sad hush on the trading floor as the news reports are only focused on one man. Bernard Madoff. A man who has lost millions of dollars for people who trusted that he was investing properly for him.

Bernard Madoff By The Numbers

This article is simply today's story which reminds us all that there are some very bad people in the world. Sad. Very sad.

Why It’s Worth Sticking with Twitter

I found this fascinating quote today:

I’m sure there are business benefits of being on Twitter and you’ll find plenty of articles on the web as to why, and how.  But for me the real benefit of sticking with Twitter is the people you get to know from spending time there.Why It’s Worth Sticking with Twitter, Feb 2009

You should read the whole article.

And I wholeheartedly agree and applaud Joanna for such a great way of describing Twitter and giving first time or beginning users of Twitter a few more reasons to get on and get going with this microblogging phenomena.

Times they are a changing

Wow. I've been amazed of late by videos that show me how far we've come in our technology. There are powerful statements here.