Alias Smith and Jones

On Friday after thanksgiving my mother and sister hosted a party for the Smiths and the Joneses. We told stories, ate good food and drank some good wine over several hours. I really hope that we can continue and expand this tradition as we move into the future. It sure was nice to get to see everyone and to get to say hello to the new face in the crowd! :-)

Thanksgiving at the New Joneses

We had the family over to our house for Thanksgiving. There was lots of good food, good company and good wine. The wine was all provided by a secret pack of wine picked out by Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library TV. We tasted the wines along with Gary before we ate then everyone drank their favorite with the meal. Lots of fun!

The Expo Floor

The Expo floor was packed with people and cool stuff to see.

Primary Presentations

The setup for the presentations at the conference was impressive.

Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine Texas

A second picture to get a second view of the atrium and show a bit if the ceiling.

Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine Texas

This is on the atrium area of the Gaylord Texan Resort. I am here for a conference by Computerworld on SANS (Storage Area Networks). The place is super nice but unfortunately I got in too late to stay on site so I am out at the Super 8. One good thing about that is I share my network bandwidth with less geeks at night so......

Dave Matthews Band

We had a great time at the concert. The band was rocking!

Waiting for the boat

Amy and I went to the Dave Matthews Band concert in the Woodlands tonight. Here we are after a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory waiting on the water taxi.

Bling-Bling the high gold ball python

Bling-Bling.... it is a "high gold ball python" - it is very nice.
feels like a neck massage....

My Response

I took this picture as my response. :-)

My Wife at her new job

This is a picture I got from Amy's phone while she is at her new job at Ober and Son's Welding. I think she likes it.

Austin Wine Festival

Memorial Day weekend we went to Austin with Jaky, Marion and Victor for the Austin Wine Festival. We had a blast hanging out together. We cooked steaks one night and then pork chops the second night. As typical we sampled wine and enjoyed each others company. The Festival was interesting but a bit too crowded so I think I prefer going to the wineries instead.

Jaky's Graduation Party

We had Jaky's graduation party tonight and a good time was had by all. There was lots of good food and conversation. :-)

Riding Again!

We have officially started riding our bikes again. It is always a pleasure as the ride is great and we get to have dinner at my parents. We rode 12 miles today and then had a great dinner of chicken and rice, corn bread and brussel sprouts with a good amount of excellent wine.

Jaky

My beautiful niece Jaky. She is graduating from high school in a few days. Time really flies.

Andrews Mother's Day

John, Amy and I coordinated having dinner over at John's apartment for Kathy's Mother's day. There is even a picture showing John and I doing the final prep work for the excellent meal. We had great dinner, conversation and drinks. :-)

Jones Mother's Day

We gathered over at the Jones house to celebrate Mother's day. Amy and I handled the food and I took care of most of the details for the evening. We invited Gunkle and Aunt Betty for dinner. Everyone had a great time eating, drinking and being merry!

Cinco de Mayo and Tom's B-Day

Cinco de Mayo and my birthday. We ate lots of food and drank lots of wine and beer. The best part for me was having all of my excellent friends and family there to celebrate with me. Amy and I got to bring Wyatt and Dutch who had such a good time they slept for two days straight. We ended the night sitting outside by an excellent fire courtesy of James and Karl. Thanks everyone it was the best birthday I have had ever!

Fredericksburg Winery Trip

We traveled to Fredericksburg to check out some hill county wineries and to climb Enchanted Rock again. We stayed at the KOA just outside of Fredericksburg. The first day we went to the Becker Winery and the wine was good and the place was gorgeous. The next day we got up and went to Enchanted Rock State Park and trekked to the top of the Enchanted Rock. Everyone made it fine and Gus was the hit, drawing crowds everywhere we stopped. That afternoon after a bit of rest we headed back out to Torre di Pietra Winery. Their wine was a bit more expensive but they had the Almost Patsy Cline band playing and so we hung out and did a bit of dancing. Each night for dinner we cooked at the RV and drank several bottles of wine. Amy and I always enjoy getting to hang out with the Joneses.

Buca di Beppos

Here is pretty much all of the gang that met for dinner. Most of us play World of Warcraft together and this was the first time several of them met in real life. Pretty wild that you can have friends you play games with who you have never met in the flesh. I really enjoyed getting to have drinks and dinner with my friends tonight.

The Mikoshes

We met at Buca di Beppos and had a fantastic dinner. Here are my friends Bert and Gail with their son Nicholas.

Pig Roast Picasa Web Album

We all had a GREAT time at the Pig Roast. :-)

One of the Pigs

This pig was cooked by James and Jim according to the instructions on the box and it turned out fantastic. James's brother Art cooked ribs, brisket and sausage. He makes some of the best ribs I have ever had.

The Host of the Pig Roast

James as we are about finished with getting the place all setup.

Decorating Man

Jim Segovia has been real busy decorating the place. Here he is getting a bit carried away as he begins to decorate the Yee golf cart.

Night before the Great Irish Pig Roast

I went to the Yee compound for the pre Pig Roast party. When I arrived James, Jim Segovia, Jagger, Sara and Carl were there. We hung out and began to drink red wine and then Carl or as we called him "The Fire Master" built a fantastic fire. We sat around the fire and enjoyed the excellent evening. Just before I called it a night Katy and Michael arrived. I am going to be heading back in the morning to help cook and then eat the Pigs. :-) The only thing that would have made it a better evening would have been my wife.

Shiloh at the Trainer

We Visited Shiloh at the trainer's and got to see them in action. Steve and his daughter seem to be doing a very good job. In talking to Steve it sounds like Amy and I will need to carve a few days a week to go out and work Shiloh and to help him and us gain confidense together. We are very excited to have Shiloh headed in the right direction so we can add him to our already excellent stable of horses. Hopefully in a year or two we can let kids ride Shiloh just like Nipper and Raven.