A Note on Toilet Paper

When Jay and I first got married and moved into our apartment, I spent a lot of time in the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store trying to figure out which specific type to buy. You see, we live in an older apartment, and that little niche where you put the toilet paper in the bathroom is too small to fit all those fancy double/triple/quadruple rolls. And I realized after spending all that time in the toilet paper aisle that there is no such thing as a normal, single roll.

So we tried buying all the skinny looking rolls. This was a very bad idea. I can recall Jay apologizing for one of his purchases because it was so awful - kind of like using notebook paper.

With all our product testing, we eventually discovered Cottonelle. And I will tell you what is so amazing about Cottonelle. It's not quilted or flowery - it's striped!

Graphically, this is so much more appealing to me...much more contemporary. I kind of feel as though all that quilted flowery toilet paper is dated. Everyone wants to get rid of the 80's floral wallpaper, so why is everyone OK with ugly paper products? Paper towels with roosters on them? Paper napkins with ugly flowers or teddy bears? Why do we need quilted? Why does no one change this?

And you might say this is a bit ridiculous for such small items that you don't spend much money on. But people spend a lot of time and energy picking out accessories that are of the same size that sit a few feet away on the counter. And you can buy well-designed, trendy shirts at Target that someone put a lot of thought into for about the same price as a pack of toilet paper. Consumers have just been conditioned to not care...that quilted is somehow better for us.

So if your home decor is not conducive to cottage-y, quilted accessories, I recommend trying Cottonelle next time you buy toilet paper. I think you'll feel good about it.

Money

I came across this today and felt convicted.

"Convicted" is such an easy phrase to throw around - it's easy to feel convicted isn't it? Maybe it's time we started applying our convictions from the Lord.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD LIFE?

The percentage of Americans calling themselves happy peaked in 1957 – despite the fact that consumption has doubled since. Having more does not then mean we enjoy life more – and yet consumption is increasing everywhere except in Africa, where the average household consumes 20% less than it did 25 years ago.

IF YOUR FAMILY INCOME 
IS AT LEAST                                          THEN YOU'RE AMONG THE TOP

$355,000                                                                                1%
 130,600                                                                                5
   93,800                                                                                10
   60,800                                                                                25
   33,400                                                                                50



Jeez

Hot, Sweaty Mess

I know I should be nicer to Jay when he's sick...but it's 2 in the morning and he's keeping me up. Not because he's up, but because he's sleeping so hard that he keeps saying really funny things in his sleep.

For instance, he was mumbling about having to cut down a tree or something and then very clearly said, "That REALLY is a good tree" (a la "Law and Order REALLY is a good show"...same tone).

And then he was mumbling something about who knows what and then sat up and said, "I really can't" so clearly and matter-of-factly that I thought he was awake.

And then I touched his arm and realized how hot and sweaty he was.

And then I realized the edge of my pillow that was touching his face was soaking wet either from drool or sweat. Either way, I figured to embrace my awakeness and leave hot, sweaty, mumbling Jay alone in bed...poor guy.

At least it's off

We thought our heating and air problems were over. Think again.
At least it's off and not running without working properly.


Maybe we can get another $200 off of our rent next month? Yeaaa

Oh Shoot

Stood a little too close. Blew a little too hard.

I am Now Fashionable in China

I have this great friend in school named Jun Gu. I refer to her as "Girl Jun" to differentiate her from Jun Lu ("Boy Jun"). No one remembers which is "Gu" and which is "Lu," but everyone can handle "Girl" and "Boy." This was especially key when I worked in a group with both.

Anyways, Girl Jun is from Shanghai. According to another Chinese student, she graduated at the top of her class from the Chinese equivalent of Harvard. She was a chess master at the age of 12 or something crazy like that. She was a business journalist and has this hilarious story (although she doesn't think it's funny...just getting the job done) of chasing Jack Welch into an elevator to get an interview when she was interning at a newspaper. And we're friends.

You see, what I have to offer Girl Jun is mastery of the English language. For the past year and a half, she has sent me every email that she plans to send to a recruiter or someone of the like to check for grammar. I check her papers. Before she gives a presentation, she writes it out word for word, and I check that, too. We like working together and have worked in several groups together.

Girl Jun went home to Shanghai over the Christmas break, and she brought me this:

According to Jun, these coats/shirts are very popular in China right now. She also sent me a picture of how they are worn, so I tried to mimic the outfit to do the top justice. Here's a close-up so that you can fully appreciate the Chinese-ness of it:

Girl Jun was really nervous about the size. Besides Yao Ming, I suppose Chinese people aren't accostumed to people of my stature. But as far as I can tell, it seems to fit. I'm totally showing up to school wearing this next week.

IKEA!

Jay's original Christmas present to me didn't work out (it was an activity), so today he gave me my alternative present: we went to IKEA. For hours. And looked at EVERYTHING (including the as-is section). And didn't even get in a fight. You see, I love IKEA because Scandanavian design is so practical and functional and clean... And I love projects.

Granted, IKEA stuff is cheap and looks cheap. But just like anything, it works in moderation (I think our apartment is about half IKEA and half Pottery Barn). In particular, we're obsessed with IKEA lighting and Lack shelves (used in literally every episode of Designed to Sell or those other budget-friendly design shows because they're so cheap but cool).

So here are our many projects from today's IKEA trip:

Project 1 - Replaced the bulb that can only be purchased at IKEA in the nightstand lamp that has been useless for months.

Project 2 - While in IKEA, we sat down to have a little heart-to-heart about the fact that we're likely moving in 6 months and don't want to be hammering into the walls all over the place, so I thought this was totally out of the question until Jay suggested it...we replaced the light fixture in our dining area. Apparently the old one just really bothered him.



Project 3 - Replaced the uplighting on Jay's desk. The old lights were no longer working, and it's a nice way to work in the evenings instead of turing on a really bright lamp.



Project 4 - Put up a little art spotlight thing above our Houston painting.


Project 5 - Added two shelves in our room so that we can put pictures and other stuff (like that circle thing - I don't know what it is but my Chinese friend Jun gave it to me...it's from China...) on them because we have nowhere in our apartment for pictures. This means I will have to start taking and printing pictures. And these are the (short) Lack shelves.


We also bought these little LCD lights to put behind the TV but when Jay opened them realized they're motion-sensor lights to put in things like drawers. They only turn on when they move. Oops. So we stuck those in a drawer.

And that's it! Hooray IKEA!

I'm with "stupid?" Thanks

I want to tell a couple of stories of some recent happenings.

1. Lindsay and I went to Banana Republic to look for clothes to exchange for a gift I received on Christmas. There was a girl with a name tag who "apparently" worked there...... and so naturally I needed to ask her a question about a pair of pants. This was our conversation:

Me: "Excuse me miss - do you know what the difference is between the modern fit and the straight fit dress pants?"

Girl Worker: "Umm.... you know I'm not really sure, but I think it's the way that they fit."

Me: Thanks

2. Out internet through comcast has been giving us a lot of trouble lately. Naturally I call comcast late one night and tell the support "technician" of our internet woes and that for the last month on different occasions when the internet has had a problem - I tunred off my computer, unplugged the modem and reset our router in order to get the internet to work. For the last month that procedure has only worked for a few hours or minutes before failing again.

So I called comcast....

Me: (After all the verification etc. etc.) Hi - I've been having trouble with my internet for the past month and everytime I've had a problem I've unplugged the modem, turned off the computer and reset my router which only allows the internet to reset, but then fails shortly after.

Comcast Technician: Ok..... well here is what I'm going to need you to do...

Me: OK

CCT: I'm going to need you to turn off your modem.

Me: OK

CCT: Next I'm going to need you to turn off your computer.

Me: OK

CCT: Now I'm going to need you to reset your router and I'm going to put you on hold while all of those devices reboot.

Me: OK

CCT: (A few minutes later) Has everything reset?

Me: Yes - just like everytime before.

CCT: OK great - is there anything else I can help you with tonight.

Me: No.... No there isn't..... Thanks

Ikea Totally Ripped Off Alvar Aalto

I found my old sketch book and was flipping through it and ran across a quick sketch I did in 2003 of some chairs on exhibit in the Pompidou Center in London. One of them was a chair Alvar Aalto designed, and I realized that it looks exactly like this Ikea chair that everyone I know who buys things from Ikea (including us) has:

You see, because I was a designer in a previous life, these are things I'm supposed to pick up on...and faster than 5 years after the fact. But see I always think Eames designed the Barcelona chair (it was Mies van der Rohe! dangit so close!) and forget which Frank did which Guggenheim and forget if Texas soil has too much limestone to dig deep or if you use a limestone slurry in order to dig deep...and these are all things that have come up in conversation in the past month or two!

I bet I sounded so cultured and artistic in that former life... Now I just don't know what I'm talking about. (Actually, what I've learned being in business school in Houston is that as long as you know what oil closed at for the day, you can fool a lot of people into thinking you DO know what you're talking about! Today it closed around $44. Try that out on someone tomorrow.)

Jay's Got A New Gig

I have this professor who's absolutely crazy in a fun kind of way. He teaches Consumer Psychology, Brand Management, and Buyer Behavior...you know, the "soft" side of marketing. He is guaranteed to show up periodically with a new look: handle bar mustache a few weeks ago, giant side burns presently, I heard a mohauk a few years ago... He's probably in his mid-30s, and he actually uses words like "pontificate" in casual language.

So Jay and I go to meet up with my class at a local bar because the professor invited all of us and said he'd just open up a tab for all to use. I introduce him to Jay. He asks Jay what he does for a living. Jay says, "I play drums for a living." I've never seen someone so enamored with my husband...

Well apparently, this professor and one of our economics professors have a band and have been looking for a drummer for a year or two to track on their latest record. So he recruits Jay! I've seen the professor a few times since, and he's still so excited about it. He listened to some of Jay's stuff and thinks he's the greatest drummer ever. He told me he should fail me for not realizing this sooner, but I better get an A for fulfilling his musical dreams.

Gotta Love Houston Weather

Yesterday, it was over 70 degrees here. We could have worn shorts. And today:

That's snow! On a car in our parking lot! Crazy.

My mom and I were discussing today that you know you're from Texas when it's 30-something degrees outside and you just think, "Oh I won't worry about a jacket (or socks and warm enough shoes)...I'll just run to the car and turn the heat on." We just don't have enough of these kind of days to actually take the time to dress appropriately, I guess. Thank goodness for seat warmers!

The most fun I've ever had at an ATM...

Jay and I went to deposit a few checks at the ATM the other night. The Bank of America on Kirby apparently got new ATM machines...and they are magical.

You no longer have to put your deposit into an envelope or use a deposit slip. Instead, you feed the check directly into the machine just as you would put a dollar in a coke machine. The ATM then reads the check and tells you how much it was written for. Amazing!

Jay and I were so amazed and weren't prepared for what happened next: the receipt had miniature scanned images of the 3 checks we deposited!

Besides just being really cool, this is so efficient in so many ways, including decreasing the use of paper. Who comes up with these things!?

Bearded wonder

About every two months or so I always get the "crazy" idea of growing a beard. Honestly it's not as much a conscious effort as it is laziness. I just get tired of shaving frequently and so me and a lot of my friends kind of "trim" for a while. We like the "scruff" look I guess.

But, anyways - I typically get to the point where it's ugly and I think "ok let's try it again" or I just shave.

This last week has been the itchy annoying phase and I don't like it, but I've never really toughed it out all the way. So, at least for now I'm going to try.

I don't really know if I pull the beard off very well - but I figured I have to see it through just so I'll know. Unless it sucks and you know it, but are afraid to tell me.

Here are some pics of my "beard".

Pardon the photography and the lazy eye ;) (Kath/Chris)

I thought I would include a picture of a really nice looking beard.

Done!

I just finished another project. Jay bought me 2 canvases last year for Christmas that have been hanging blank on our walls ever since. On Halloween, I finally started on the big one and just finished:

As seen hanging above the couch:

(It's hanging really high because I had Jay help me put the wire on the canvas and then accidentally painted it up-side-down...I'll eventually move the wire so it hangs farther down.)

Admittedly, it matches absolutely nothing else in our apartment. For those of you who remember/took part in the Walton painting, you understand what an undertaken these "modern pointillism" paintings actually are! To do this, I found a picture of Houston and pixelated it to be made up of .5" x .5" squares and then limited it to 7 colors. Then it's just like paint by number on a canvas that has been divided up into a grid with .5" pixels. It seriously takes forever, though. It would be awesome to get it silk-screen printed onto canvas...

Close up:
From Wikipedia: Pointillism is a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary and intermediate colors. See? Really like pointillism aided by Photoshop!

Just Read:

Several people have recommended and given me books lately to read. Since being in school, I haven't exactly had a lot of time to read non-school books, but I figured I should get reading so I can return all these books!

I just finished this one that was given to me by a guy I tutor in Data Analysis:

It's a cute little book about leadership/management. Apparently, the three secrets in life can be summed up in squirrels, beavers, and geese. More specifically, the idea is that organizations are more efficient when everyone has a sense of purpose (squirrels), has ownership/control of goals (beavers), and encourages one another (geese).

The guy who gave this to me believes in it so much that he sent an email to our program director to give me "goose honks" (and he actually used those words in the email) for my help with tutoring him. But I will say, I felt good about helping him out just by receiving a little recognition. Guess it works, huh?

My Friends

Good thing Kath and company come here because we don't get out of here enough. Here's our new little friend Lucy:
She's a very sweet little baby who actually likes to be held and snuggled, unlike Hudson when he was a baby. She loves her Hudson and her mama...and tolerated us as well.

Making our cookies. He actually "helps" now, so it's a much messier process:

He's so grown up now. For the first several years of his life, I literally saw him every single day (or just about), so it's weird to only see him incrementally now. He actually let's me hug and kiss on him still...didn't even worry about whether there were lipstick marks or not. He still loves numbers and counting. Little accountant in the making...

Stomach Virus? Food Poisoning?

I hate being sick to my stomach. The nausea, the sweating, the hurling, and the hugging of porcelain. Now imagine you are at a friends house - and your friend is a single musician who doesn't necessarily keep the cleanest bathroom.

Last night was awful. Linz had to come pick me up. I still don't feel that great right now and it's almost 7 p.m.

No matter what I do when I get sick to my stomach it always takes me a long time to recover. Especially with eating.

Being sick isn't fun.

The Lindsay Update:
Ok Jay doesn't even begin to paint the picture here. His friend calls me at 11 to tell me Jay can't make it home and then calls me back a half hour later to come get him.

When I get there, Jay is laying across this nasty toilet that hasn't been cleaned in who knows how long. So we go get him Gatorade...we sit around watching Adult Swim cartoons, Iron Chef, Hook... Jay in the bathroom throwing up the whole time.

Finally at 1, Jay falls asleep on the bathroom floor (which hasn't been cleaned since probably a year before the toilet). So I let him sleep for half an hour in the bathroom and then convince him we can make it home. We take a trash bag along for the ride.

All I could think about when he got into bed last night around 2 was that his skin had touched so many dirty bathroom surfaces and was now touching our sheets. Come to think of it, I think I'll go change our sheets.

Apartment Update

So I had a long talk with our apartment manager.

Without going into detail here is what is happening:

We got a brand new AC unit installed today and next month we are receiving a $200 rebate towards rent.

So remember kids............ sometimes it pays to complain.

Just be nice about it.

Apartments - Ugh

I have literally called our apartment office over 20 times, requested online service, and asked to speak to a manager on four different occasions about our A/C.

Last night was like the 10th night Linz and I have spent sweating in our 85 degree apartment. I am so pissed to say the least. For a long time the A/C unit would leak horribly and before that it didn't work at all when it would break. For the last six months however it will run and stay on, but without cooling. So imagine this: You get up and go to work at 8am and come home to find your unit has been running all day long without cooling. We have had electric bills over $270 in a month for a one bedroom 850 sq. ft. apartment - and obviously when I would notice it wasn't cooling I would turn it off and not just let it run. On five different ocassions it occured while Linz and I were gone for more than a day.

I am talking to a manager today and asking for some kind of a rebate towards next months rent. This is bull shit. What do you think?

Tuesday Top Ten

I've been traveling quite a bit lately...you know that whole silly "find a job" thing. There are certain men in my life (ie Jay and my dad) who are very particular travelers and have little patience for those amateurs who slow them down in the airport. [Sidenote: They would have been so disappointed in me because I actually walked through the metal detector with my cell phone in my pocket on Sunday.] But there really are many annoying things about getting on a plane.

Top ten worse things about flying:

1. Getting to the airport too early - unlike Jay, I'd rather get to the gate right as I should be getting on the plane
2. Airplane smell - second only to charter bus smell
3. Inefficiencies in the security line - People who don't take their shoes off, don't take thier laptops out of their bags, don't know the liquid rules, etc. and hold up the line
4. Having to go to the bathroom on the plane when you're in the window seat
5. Being in the middle seat - there's nowhere to put your head for sleeping (I'm a big plane sleeper)
6. People you sit next to who talk the whole flight - I'm not there to make friends-I'm there to sleep
7. People who carry all their luggage on the plane - the ones who wheel around their over-the-shoulder bags on top of their rolly bags and usually have another purse or brief case in tow...they take forever in the aisles and take too much overhead bin space
8. Turbulence - logically, it makes no sense that a really heavy metal object should get up in the air just by going fast enough and then stay up there - turbulence reminds me of this
9. Paying $15 for a checked bag - not because I have to pay but because it encourages more of #7
10. Bad selection of airport food and beverage - seriously, what kind of airport doesn't have a Starbuck's?

Your Own Super Power?

I'm sure at one point when you were growing up you thought of the "super-power" you wanted most. I know I did. Especially watching superman, batman, spiderman, insert favorite superhero here, I'm sure we all had our favorite and wanted what they had.

I do remember however listening to my sister Leanne explain in detail what became known in the Snider family as "Leanne-Pan". Leanne-Pan was her fictitious alter-ego who could stop time. But, there was a catch. The catch was that she had to touch her index fingers (tip to tip mind you) together above her head without looking. (You should try it - it's not easy) At the time (I was probably somewhere between 12 and 13 I think?) I thought - "what a friggin' waste of a super power" - I thought being "invisible" or the obvious "flying" was the right choice, but being able to just stop time? Stupid... I thought.

Many years later after much thought and retrospect I believe my sister was on to something. Work, sleep, eating, working out, time with family, friends, time to hang out and just relax - we never have enough time! "If only I could stop time" - I thought that to myself one day and I had visions of Leanne-Pan touching her fingers together above her head flash before my eyes.

What would be your super power and why? I'm curious. Kuddos to Leanne-Pan she was on the right track.

Tuesday Top Ten

This week marks the end of the best class I've ever taken. It's a six-week class called "Critical Thought" taught by Leo Linbeck (if you're from Houston, he would be the CEO of the parent company of Linbeck Construction), a brilliant 40-something who teaches at Rice each Fall and at Stanford every Spring. My brother-in-law Chris actually took a class from him while at Stanford and luckily encouraged me to stay in the class despite the reading list we received over the summer with a dozen books on it. Books included everything from "War and Peace" to "An Inconvenient Truth" to "Blink."

These are my top ten favorite things from the class:

1. Uniqueness - The class is unique in both format and content. We go to school each Monday morning for a lecture on a given "theme" (for example, heresy versus genius), turn in a 3-page paper each Wednesday applying the theme to a given topic (for example, poverty), and then meet at his house on Thursday or Friday in small-group seminars to basically debate our stance on the topic. The following Monday, Linbeck applies everything that was discussed back to a business context and then presents the next theme.
2. "Reading" the classics - Though some of us technically "watched," I actually know the plot and could discuss "War and Peace," "Pride and Prejudice," "Othello," etc. and their major themes. Linbeck double-majored in undergrad in engineering and classic literature, so he incorporates these into a business course in a very odd but effective manner.
3. Al Gore lied - (well at least manipulated) "An Inconvenient Truth" is such a half-truth. There is no definitive scientific evidence that humans cause global warming or that it poses an imminent threat to our planet. I will scientifically karate-chop anything you have to say about that. (Global warming was my favorite topic.)
4. Eating dinner at Linbeck's house - Linbeck lives in an awesome house right by Rice that was built in the 1930s. Every week when we meet there, he feeds us. And this week, he's taking all of us plus guests (so literally 50 people) to the River Oak Country Club for a closing dinner. Very fancy.
5. The Mini-UN - Linbeck has 5 kids, 3 of which are adopted from Ethiopa, Guatemala, and Columbia. They range in age from 1.5 to 14, and we eat with them each week at their home.
6. The Ghost Map - This was my favorite read from the class (both for style and content...very interesting).
7. Weekly "Take-Aways" - Take-aways are such a Stanford B-school thing but really are so nice and efficient. One time Chris gave me, Lauren, and Kath take-aways in analyzing what we should get my mother for her birthday.
8. Linbeck drives a hybrid - And his wife drives a mini-van. His shoes look old and worn. I'm pretty sure he wears the same blazer to class every week. The man's got money, but he spends it giving an exuberant amount away to charity, not on anything he owns.
9. I might actually get an A+ - Somewhat shallow, but I still haven't gotten an A+ in grad school. Those are reserved for people like my little Jun who sit at home studying literally all the time. This might be my best chance...
10. Message of humility - Overall, this class was not just about problem-solving but leading an organization with humility.

Dad's TV

I recently visited my family in Little Rock during the second half of our week without power. The first part of the week was spent in Dallas at my wife's sister (Lauren's) house (very cool house I might add).

But, Lindsay was scheduled to attend a conference in Washington D.C. the following weekend to scout companies and look for a job so I decided to go home to Little Rock and see my family in lieu of staying home at our powerless apartment in the heat.

While I was home I played golf and saw one of my sisters and her husband Matt (very cool guy). I arrived in Little Rock on a Wednesday, played golf on the following Thursday and hung out with my mother on friday.

Now friday is the day I am getting around to talking about. A long story short - I had been sarcastically teasing my parents about the horrible television they've had since before I was playing varsity golf. About 6 months ago they called me while they went looking for T.V.'s asking me questions trying to figure out what they wanted. After some suggestions they were bombarded by all of the horrible sales people at Circuit City and of course they gave up their search (way to go electronic store chains!). But, being at home with my newly retired mother with nothing to do gave way to small talk about T.V.'s which then gave way to searching the web, which gave way to talking about purchasing, which gave way to purchasing and picking up.


We started our conversation about T.V.'s around 11am and by 4:30p.m. we had purchased a Panasonic 50" Plasma Flat-screen, Panasonic Blue-Ray 5.1 Digital Surround Sound System, and gotten the HD Cable upgraded along with a properly functioning DVR. My dad left home that morning with a 36" humongous projection RCA black box that even I at 25 with good eye sight had to squint at in order to see clearly - and came home to college football in full HD (broadcast) - we also purchased one of his favorite movies on Blu-Ray (Patriot Games) which of course we watched some of in full 1080P. Amazing.

Way to go Mom and Dad - thanksgiving TV watching just rocketed to a whole new level at the Snider House! Kick ASS!

I think Leanne said it best after seeing that second picture... "D & P are Ballers. Nice set up."

My TV is pretty awesome and their's puts mine to shame.

Mine is below.

Who Says It Takes 21 Days to Establish a New Habit?

Jay and I are not coffee drinkers. I'm the Starbuck's fanatic, and it's for my short non-fat, no-water chai. Not coffee. But a few days ago, I came home from school to this:


This is the espresso machine we got for our wedding sitting in a very prominent location in our kitchen. For those of you who are apartment dwellers, you understand that prominent counter space is reserved for those important appliances that are used on a regular basis. Everything else is stowed away wherever you can make it fit. Jay had rearranged several things in the kitchen so that the espresso machine could be more accessible. He had decided he was now going to be an espresso drinker.

Well today, he was explaining to me that when we move to a "real house and not this fake house," he'd like an area in the kitchen for all his espresso materials to be together. Because right now, he's got the machine in one area, and then across the kitchen (so like 3 feet away) is his "grinding station" (I'm not lying - he really called it that):


If you can't tell, to the left of the stove are four canisters filled with random things (which were previously located where the espresso machine now is) and a little coffee grinder.

And when I refused to try his espresso (because I really despise the taste of coffee), he tells me that we're missing out on a marriage experience because we should wake up every morning and drink coffee together - that's what married people do.

So at this point I say, "Jay...you're telling me that we're going to have a designated area to be a coffee bar wherever we move next and that I'm missing out on our marriage because I won't drink coffee... because you've been drinking coffee now for TWO DAYS?" To which he responds, "No it's espresso, not coffee." Oh, of course.

Tuesday Top Ten

Since being married for a little while now, there are new things I'm learning about Jay, too. Here are 10 things that I like about him:

1. He laughs out loud at commercials - (and in movies, at TV shows, etc) I remember one of our first dates, he leaned over dying laughing at something in a movie and was so disappointed that I hardly smiled (if anyone has seen "Burn After Reading," I am totally the first guy Frances McDormand goes on a date with - emotionless - and Jay is George Clooney). My emotional antithesis, Jay laughs without fail at certain commercial (ex: Bud Light opera commercial), and I find it quite endearing.
   
2. He cleans the bathroom (including the hair out of the drain)
   
3. He is quick to apologize
   
4. He is concerned for my office plant and my lack of watering it - If you think about it, it's good to know that the person who will some day be the father of your children has an accute concern for life and sustaining it.
   
5. He willingly does dishes
   
6. He has good taste in shoes - I've always thought so. And this can be so telling for guys: Is he fun/does he have a sense of humor? Does he clean up nicely? Is he stylish? Is he active? Does he take himself too seriously/can he be laid-back? (See what I mean?)
   
7. He's got a lot of determination
   
8. He is very creative - One of my favorite things is when I come home from school and he randomly composed a song that day.
   
9. When he uses the shaker while playing drums with the other hand and sometimes hits the cymbal with the shaker, yeah, that's for me - When we were dating (so probably about 2 years ago), I went with him when he was playing somewhere. I told him I liked when he used the shaker in one hand while playing with a drumstick in the other hand - it was very tricky. He told me that could be for me. He probably doesn't remember saying it, but I always think "that's for me" when I see him do it.
   
10. He makes me laugh

See, I can blog... But he's right - I'm really not a picture-taker.

My wife - the Linz

Lindsay doesn't really blog much. She doesn't really like to take pictures or make videos. Lindsay really doesn't like to do many of those typical girly things. I say girly but that may or may not be an accurate description of the activities I'm describing. Anyways... I've often noticed that unless I take pictures with her camera when we are on family trips (Italy) or places we go - just the two of us (Jaimaca, San Antonio), we don't really come back with pictures unless I've taken them myself. So I've made a decision to contribute to OUR blog for or about Linz every week at least once.

So... Here goes for Linz today - this is more about linz than from her.

Lindsay is engulfed most of the week in school with projects, papers, and most importantly, looking for a job. One thing I've started to notice in particular with school work is that lindsay is a little bit of an over-acheiver - I'm sure if I told my mother-in-law that she would say "Uh Jay....... duh...hello" mainly because I've been told that many times and mainly because it's true.

I say that because apparently there are still a lot of things I'm learning about my bride. It's like when Lindsay used to play fooseball with me all the time while we dated, but then shortly after our engagement I found my self without a fooseball partner. I distinctly remember asking her one day if she wanted to play a game like our normal routine and she responded "No, I don't really like fooseball." - "Amazing" I thought.

I also remember that she told me about her distaste for fooseball while I was standing in the doorway from the garage to the kitchen at her parents house (the table is in the garage) and Giga and Kath stood there smiling and giggling as they knew the truth the whole time. "It was all a lie" they said - "we knew it wouldn't last" - I was devastated. A year and a few months later and we have only played fooseball maybe twice.

Interesting things you learn about people after longer periods of time. Linz and I really met in lat 2005 at church (I think). So eventhough we have been married for a year and four months there is still a lot to learn about each other.

Lindsay is smart. Practical. Too practical. Almost annoying sometimes, but in a good way. Lindsay is all about "options". She relishes the idea of options. So many different combinations and so MUCH time according to Linz. We did learn one thing about each other early on. That if we both go to IKEA we leave fighting and arguing. I think I'm like most males - we decide what we want before we go to wherever it is we need to go to pick up said item. I say pick up because we make sure it's available before we go. We also know where it is in the store, the best area to park, and the fastest way to that aisle or section in the store. We also have all the necesities to make said purcahse, because we keep our KEYS and WALLET on us at all times. The latter of that list are typically things that aren't necessarily a "must-have", but whatever.

With all that said - and as much as I give her a hard time about some of those things - she is way smarter than me and has saved me countless hours of trips back and forth from place to place and always reminds me the most efficient way to carry out every day activities.

Oh yeah - she also likes to talk with her hands like her father and she doesn't like to talk about her feelings. Those are just FYI's. Ha

I love her.

J

End of Week 5 Training

Since working out with Herschel - things have been going well - to date I have lost 11 lbs which is great, but now comes the second half of his program and the pounds aren't coming off as quickly or as easily. I've had to log all of my meals everyday for the last five weeks - even with the Hurricane. The week right after the storm was difficult due to the lack of power and grocery availability, but that's life. I weigh in tomorrow and our goal is at least 1 lb a week. I actually think I'll be behind in my goal.

I've been voluntarily working out at 8a.m. for four weeks! If some one would have told me I would be doing that last year at this time - I would have said they were crazy.

Linz is working hard to make contacts and find possible job interviews. She has a final interview with Frito-Lay in Dallas near the end of November. I think she really wants that job and it would be a great place to move to.

Anyways - pretty boring stuff. Lata

Movies (small moments away from real-life)

We are most likely about to cancel our blockbuster subscription :( we haven't made a final decision. But, we traded in some online movies for in-store rentals. We are currently watching "Kabluey". Pretty funny.

Check it out.

Working out for real is hard.

So I hired a Personal Trainer................ you are probably either thinking - "you lazy ass" or "waste of money" - which are all valid points - I think it WILL be a waste unless I make sure to be committed and to make the most of it.

His name is Herschel Johnson.


Herschel has trained many professional athletes and celebrities such as Warren Moon and Jeff Bagwell. Herschel is an amazing guy... He is a little shy of 6 feet - and he's pretty much all muscle - not like the huge body builders (even though he has been Mr. Houston twice) but none the less - stacked, ripped, swole, etc. etc.

He is also intense. He's basically been kicking my ass for the last two weeks every morning at 8 a.m. Hopefully he and some strange will-power that is hiding somewhere in my huge gut will help me lose about 25 lbs.

Interesting tid-bits about Herschel - He calls me "Baby-Boy" told me on our first phone conversation that the one thing I needed to rap my head around was that he was going to "change my life" - and after our first workout he told me to enjoy week one and two - because "we ain' goin' to be friends after next week".

He is an incredible encourager - very smart - knows what he's talking about - more importantly he knows the science behind it and he cares.

Designed to Sell? or Designed to Manipulate?

So my wife Linz loves to watch shows like: Designed to Sell and Flip This House etc. etc. Sometime I end up watching. The crazy thing is that these "teams" of people come in and tell you what people are looking for when they are looking at buying a house. Then they attempt to come up with a plan in order to make the "important" things that people look at the most really appealing by very very cheaply dressing things up. Of course with the magic of T.V. they always never spend over their budget and of course they don't ever factor in the cost of labor. Some times they do things that are cool, but most of the time it's all cheap little "cover-ups". 

I think it's crap. What do you think? 

Apple... Do your Job Steve Jobs.

Oh Shit! Someone within Apple out in Cupertino, CA had to have said that in the office at one point or another. I knew that my number one "go-to" company with a great history of efficient machines and support wouldn't last. It was too good to be true. As most of you may or may not know - Apple recently switched their .mac account(s) over to a new feature called Mobile-Me. At the same time they also released the new Apple iphone 3G, iphone software 2.0, and itunes 7.7.

This was a relatively large task that most consumers and Mac users were highly anticipating and now asking "What the hell happened?". I think the shit really hit the fan when AT&T's servers were overwhelmed with thousands and thousands of iphones being activated all within a very small amount of time. Even though AT&T was largely blamed for the iphone fiasco it still made a lot of Mac users a little uneasy.  

Many people with the older iphones tried to update the their phone to the new 2.0 software which turned out less than excited for many users. Most ended up with what they called a $500 functionless "brick" that would turn on, use battery life, but not make calls or anything else useful. Luckily my phone didn't "brick". 

Now onto the Mobile-Me fiasco. Mobile-Me was introduced to act as Apple's version of "Microsoft Exchange". New apple users could purchase a Mobile-Me subscription and the previous system users (.mac) would have their accounts automatically transferred over. This would allow anyone with a Mobile-Me subscription to "seamlessly" sync their iphone, home, personal, and laptop computers together. This was to include calendars, contacts, mail accounts, bookmarks, and apple based web applications such as iweb. Apple also loosely used the word "push" email and contacts which also created a lot of flack. Ultimately a great idea that was disastrously executed. 

I was one of the lucky few once again. My computers and first generation iphone were able to sync together. Mainly and luckily because one of my newer machines (MacPro) has the latest platform (10.5.4) which works best with Mobile Me, even though my older 15" powerbook is running 10.4.11. The only problem I've run into is not being able to publish my new website I've been working on via iweb on my macs.

Other people are experiencing far worse problems. There are many people with mail accounts that no longer work correctly and are being told they need to upgrade platforms in order for their older .mac account to work correctly and be able to switch over to Mobile-Me. That is total bullshit since Mac announced the Mobile Me and previous .mac accounts would seamlessly work with 1o.4.11. 

Apple has pissed a lot of people off including me. It's ironic I was just telling my sister how great a .mac account would be for her this morning and even though I wouldn't use anything but a Mac, I kind of feel a small sense of worry about what's to come of this whole shit storm. 

Way to go Steve - take off your stupid black turtle-neck and get to work. 

Hijacked...because sometimes I think I need a blog

I have hijacked Jay's blog. You see, he leaves me at home alone for long stretches of time when he's in the studio (with phone turned off may I add), and apparently I'm not resourceful enough to just call someone to go do something, but I am resourceful enough to figure out his blog username and password. So I welcomed myself in. And changed all the colors (much better I may add).

And sometimes I just feel like I need a blog (but don't really want to commit to one). Like yesterday - I was thinking about the fact that everyone thinks they can be a photographer. This just seems wrong and worthy of commentary...

Foiled! Jay called and is on his way home. Gotta go.

The Hip/Hop Buzz continues.......

I couldn't really tell what my sister (Leanne) was trying to say about "the club" other than what she experienced personally was much different from what we typically hear "rapped" about in popular songs. Then again I don't know what kind of a club experience the "south" really has to offer. Cancun is one thing, but Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas? I think that Usher is probably talking about some swank place somewhere else. Maybe LA, NYC, Miami? I would have to say other than going to "The Swamp" in Destin, FL - I would agree... but I have seen the wet t-shirt contest, Tone-Loke in concert, and the bubble foam party (that my friends and yours truly) took part in.

I definitely have some musical respect for Jay-Z and a few others in the "rap world" , but as for the hip-hop genre as a whole - I think the newest batch of "artists" are ruining it. Who the f@#$ cares about half the stuff they rap about. Don't get me wrong I'm all about beats, hooky chorus melodies, and dancing at clubs. I write stuff like that all the time for different things ... but the stupid crap they come up with lyrically is so juvenile, chauvinist, so degrading, it's really quite despicable and I believe it's a slap in the face to artists. Which of course brings into question this idea of an artist. I mean come on.... do you think Lil' Wayne has something he really wants to say or get across? Horse-shit!

Call yourself an entertainer, call yourself a performer, but please don't call yourself an artist. I can deal with most of these guys because I think "most" intelligent people have some sense of culture and understand what these guys "really" do. Don't get me wrong - I don't think that Ludacris or Loyd Banks are out to make a political statement... I sure seems like they are mostly concenred with making a ton of money (showing it, spending it, and living for it) and showing all of us what kind of shit they have in their refrigerators on MTV's cribs... AND... I'm totally fine with that. There are a lot of hip/hop songs that I like and enjoy listening to despite the lack of integrity in the lyrics. Being a drummer, producer, songwriter, and programmer I can appreciate the production and work that goes into these songs. I just also know that they mean shit in the grand scheme of timeless music. I know what those guys and gals are about and hopefully most others do, but there are a few who really use that term "artist" very loosely and that just pisses me off. And yes.... I know what you are thinking - there are plenty of non-hip/hop "artists" that do the same thing just in a different vein. Take for example all of the big hair bands of the eighties. To save some breathe... DIDO to them too.

I may "paint" shit at home with my little midi keyboard on my computer, but I'm painting. I'm not showing up to the studio to figure out a way to come up with the next best catchy sexual innuendo or attempting to coin the newest narcissistic phrase. I'm playing and writing music because that's what I do it's a part of me and at heart it's really who I am. I would definitely consider the guys who come up with all the music for these morons artists. It takes some serious talent to produce a hip/hop record these days and the really good songs are so tight. For instance... 50 cents "candy shop", "in da club", "disco inferno" those are some musically tight songs. I like and enjoy listening to them, but the integrity of the music, the way those "artists" are portrayed, and the way the songs get written are so messed up. My personal analogy would be like making an amazing statue or sculpture that looks incredible, was molded, shaped, and refined into something amazing and then having a drunk, doped up, degenerate take a massive dump on it.

The crazy thing about all of this... I still listen to it. I'm just as guilty as the next person. I don't go out and buy the next Big Mike album, but I also haven't deleted the spring break playlist I purchased back in 04' either. It's definitely messed up.

We need more Garfunkels, more RUN DMC's, more Beastie Boys (for the most part), more Etta James, more Bob Dylans.

4th of July, inventions, and harrison ford

Did you know that USA Today lists Belton, TX as one of the top ten places in America to celebrate the fourth of July? I didn't know that, but I do now... and guess what? I'm here right now. 

Jared Johnson (CMT's Can You Duet - Contestant/Brother-in-Law) played a show last night in Temple at The Duckhorn Tavern. 

On a completely different note... I am trying to invent something in order to secure my financial future. I'm not really "banking" on the invention thing - I just figure if guys like Tom from myspace and the "geniuses" at facebook can create websites that pretty much make people less efficient all day long.... then I can invent something worth more than a couple of hours a day wasted. By the way... I have a myspace and a facebook page - I'm a hypocrite, but I'm trying to create something else. 

My latest thought has been a new design for microphone stands. Typical stands are always moving and falling over. I just tried to think of something that has always bothered me and how I could make it better. Kind of like the guy from Dyson that invented the new kind of hand dryer you are probably seeing more and more of inside commercial restrooms.

P.S. and totally unrelated... has anyone ever seen Harrison Ford in an interview or on one of the late shows? He is so weird. Creepy.

Finally

Sometimes when you play music for a few years trying to make something of yourself you catch a small break. 

I have to say the first time I ever hear

d a great record with amazing drums I was hooked, and from that day on I wanted to get to play on a record like that. 

Well.... that day came in February of this year and I'm just now getting to hear some rough mixes of what is to come and I am so happy. 

The artist is Aaron Wagner. He calls Weatherford Texas home and his album is almost finished. 

New Song on the myspace

Wrote a new one today... Check it out.... maybe one day the songs will have words.

www.myspace.com/thesnig

Idle Hands

I don't know about you, but when I sit around all day I tend to do things that are completely worthless. Last week was nice because I had a job every day. I was in Palacios Texas. It's not that great of a place overall, but when you are with friends it can be fun. The Zach Hendricks Band played a camp. Camp went well and we all had a good time. Now it's back to the normal flow. My calender is pretty open which can be good and bad at the same time. Nothing on the calender means nothing coming into the bank account. I need to find some work.

J

Superbad and the New Machine

Superbad is totally Crass.... somewhat funny..... but crass..... ok it's really funny but super crass....

The new computer is great. I just got it today - and spent the day setting it up. I worked on a new song today and Linz and I finished it for the most part. I tried to put it up on my myspace - but it takes a long time to upload a song. www.myspace.com/thesnig

Little Rock was fun. Linz and I went for the last weekend to surprise my mom for her retirement brunch. I played golf this last weekend and shot 38 on the front nine. I was pretty proud considering I play less than 20 times a year.

Ok so superbad is SO Crass - I am watching it right now and was just shocked.....phew.....

Going to bed soon...

Five O 50

I let Linz pick the movie tonight... "Margot At The Wedding"...hmmm. It's from the same director who made "The Squid and The Whale" which was interesting, but weird. I'm not that entertained right now. Bored. I did however order the new Mac Pro today. A buddy of mine got me %15 off towards the machine.

Well hang on one sec.... it appears John Turturro is in this movie.... this just got a little more interesting.

Hmmm - still nothing - I guess going to bed will be fun later. So bored. Rotten tomatoes gave this movie a %51. Figures - rotten tomatoes is pretty reliable in my opinion.

Ok... see ya later.

Memorial Day

I thought that posting more often would be a decent thing to do. My oldest sister blogs all the time and I feel like she does a great job letting family and friends know what's going on in her fam's world. 

No REAL news here. Just bored. Wondering how I'm going to make some money in the next few months. Typically summers are packed with things for musicians that end up being the lot of your income for the year. I however of course don't like the typical summer stuff. Mainly - camps. Ugh

I said no to three camps this year that would have been some great income. But, honestly - I'd rather be home with my wife hanging out at our home. Thank goodness she will make some money this summer. 

Oh yeah... I am growing a beard. I may put up a picture of that progress later. Maybe.

Today is an American holiday - ... I think? I am still in The Woodlands from playing on Sunday morning and I am so bored. Our new computer from the previous post isn't here yet - so I can't really work on a lot of things until that is here.

Anyways.... yeah

New Computer? Yes Please

So... there I was waiting for the two packages to arrive at my mother-in-laws house. (I have to have packages shipped there because my apartment complex is a UPS nightmare.) I grew even more anxious as I finally opened the newly rapped reason refill samples that I had so desperately wanted for months. One of the sample packages, (reason Pianos) was an amazing catalog of four highly esteemed pianos recorded and sampled with different mic positions and insert many adjectives about recording and engineering that you don't care about - here - .

The second package contained a similar set up. It is called The Abbey Road Keyboards which of course contained the same type of samples, but taken from the actual pianos that have called abbey road studios in England home since the Beatles recorded there. Not only the Challen upright piano and the Mrs. Mills piano found all over the Beatles records, but some other very cool instruments as well.

So I rushed home to load the samples on to my hard drive. I inserted the discs, followed all the right steps, and proceeded to fire up my Reason Software only to find that my shitty G4 Apple Powerbook was not fast enough to use the samples I was so anxiously awaiting.

SHIT! I was pissed to say the least. Of course my lovely and supportive wife charms in with the last comment I wanted to hear... "You should have made sure your computer could run those things before you bought them." I wanted to kill her... don't get carried away - you know what I mean.

So for the past month I've been crazily trying to make various tracks and songs with my new samples only to find I can only load very small amounts of samples into my sessions.

Anyways with all that said - Here comes my digital saviour - Being that I am an employee of a non-profit church he also comes to us %10 off of the regular price and tax free. That's right... Tax FREE.

Please welcome the (2) 2.8Ghz Quad Core Intel Xeon Harpertown Processor- 8 Core Mac PRO to the Snider Family.

Comedian or philosopher?

So I recently watched "Comedian", an independent documentary following the likes of Jerry Seinfeld after the hit TV show became syndicated and he made gobillions of dollars. Everyone wanted to know what he would do next... He started over doing stand-up using all new material going back to clubs in New York. Awesome...



If you haven't watched this movie then I would highly recommend you do so... especially if you are having trouble with your identity, job, happiness, life etc. etc. etc. if you are reading this then I will go ahead and tell you that YOU DO in fact fall in this category.

Fascinating thoughts from a guy who's made millions and been on stage a lot of his adult life. The movie also follows another comic,"Orny Adams" I think that was his name. Who, like Jerry, is trying his hand at stand-up, but is completely miserable. Mainly because he is too caught up in wanting fame and fortune to enjoy what he does. It's a really great parallel.

Jerry talks about watching some construction workers in New York "trudging" back to work after their lunch break. He talks about how ridiculous it is of him to complain about the difficulty of working the crowd, starting over with new material, and becoming a comic again when he's been doing and getting paid to do what he loves all the while the construction guys hate what they do.

The amazing thing when watching this movie is seeing this amazingly talented comedian sweat off stage and be nervous about coming out with new material and also watching him laugh and make fun of this other young guy (orny) who is completely miserable while HIS new career is just starting to take off.

Thinking about that makes me have a little bit more pride about playing at "Churches" - HA - By the way - Playing at church for me as much as I love being a part of the "worship" band (we are pretty damn good - probably the best band I have played in by far) and with a killer singer/songwriter... it's kind of like winning the special Olympics to a degree - please don't misunderstand me - I think you know what I'm getting at...

Anyways - chew on that!

Zach H Jared J and Brandon H

These three pictures are the latest additions to the list of artists I have been very fortunate to play with. 

First, (top) Zach Hendricks from the Houston area. Zach is an up and coming very young and very talented singer songwriter who I've been playing with since May of this year. Zach is going to do some great things very very soon. Zach is finishing a worship promo project and has his debut solo album in the works right now. Zach is a great artist and phenomenal worship leader. You can see Zach at The Woodlands United Methodist Church during the Harvest service at 9:15 in the main sanctuary.

myspace.com/zachhendricks

Jared Johnson (middle) is a singer songwriter from Nashville, TN. He is currently working for Craig Wiseman (country songwriter) at Craig's publishing company. Jared and I will be playing at "The Ranch" in Belton, TX on November the 3rd. Jared is an up and coming artist who you will absolutely be hearing about very very soon. He is very close to breaking through with some really great songs he has written. It's only a matter of time.

myspace.com/jaredjohnsonmusic

The third (bottom) is Christian artist Brandon Heath. Brandon has one of the most played songs on Christian radio right now "I'm Not Who I Was" off of his latest release "Don't Get Comfortable". I was fortunate enough to play with Brandon at The Woodlands United Methodist Church in The Woodlands, TX. Brandon is all over the radio and is a great guy and performer. If you haven't heard his music - you will soon - or just turn on your radio.

www.brandonheath.net

myspace.com/brandonheath

anyways

next you will hear about something even more exciting than these great opportunities

yes.... for those of you who know me..... THE 71s

Playing

It's been a while - I've had some new things happen since the last time I posted. My wife and I are now coming into our fourth month of marriage and it's amazing. God has blessed us in so many ways it's very humbling - or at least that's the way I feel when I recognize how he's working in our lives. I was recently let go from my old job at The Woodlands United Methodist Church. They went through some "downsizing" if you will. (the office) It kind of came at a good time for me - The end of August and September have been my two busiest months this year. I was just starting to get to work quite a bit in the Church's studio before they gave me the axe. But, that's life I guess.

Some good things have happened lately as well. I recently played with Sparrow recording artist Robbie Seay at his home church. His band - The "Robbie Seay Band" recently released their second album called "Give Yourself Away". His drummer Dan has recently moved to Dallas. Dan is still a full time member of the band, but Robbie has asked me to start playing at his home church, Ecclessia, on Sunday nights when he is in town. I'm not sure how much I will actually get to play, but either way it has been a great experience and opportunity for me to play with someone like Robbie. If you haven't heard his music - you should go and buy it - he is incredibly talented - a true - artist.


Robbie contacted me about filling in for Dan on their next leg of the tour - Dan caught pneumonia and is going to be out for possibly two weeks. I cleared my schedule and was excited about flying out to catch up with the band this coming tuesday, only to find out that they ended up calling another drummer - who happens to be a friend of mine in the area. I was bummed - but who wouldn't be? That's an experience of a life time - besides - the guy they hired is a killer drummer - his name is Michael Lisenbe.

During the past couple of years - I've gone through some rough periods where I doubted playing music, and I think the only thing that has gotten me through those slow times has been my close friends who have always encouraged me to follow my dream and to be patient.

My wife's sister Kathryn has been dating a musician from Nashville named Jared Johnson. Jared is a great guy to say the least and is also a songwriter under a publishing contract with Craig Wiseman's (Tim MgGraw: Live like you were dying - Everywhere and tons of other hits) company "Big Loud Shirt". Jared is an up and coming writer and is bound to hit the bigtime very very soon. It's been great getting to know Jared - he has some amazing songs and it's only a matter of time for him. I'm also going to be playing with Jared soon in Belton, TX - his home town on November the 3rd.

And last but not least - I've been playing with a band for almost the last two years. The band is called The 71's. Consisting of Micahel Coffman, Ryan Cecil, Jacob Lisenbe and myself - we have been working hard. Recently we were invited to perform and compete in a showcase for Word record label. Word is the christian label owned by Warner Brothers. We traveled to Nashville - picking up a friend to play bass along the way since our bassist Jacob was out playing with matt redmon. We played in nashville but didn't get chosen. Thus is life - eventhough we were way better than all of the other crap bands there.

Anyways - thats whats going on in my world.

Jay

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