Well, Motivium Consulting is now an official vendor of Lockheed
Martin. Management Systems Designers is no more. I am sure the owners
of MSD can retire to the beaches of Maui. I think I am going to like
being a vendor. One of these days when I am through with creating my
own sites I might think about getting a small business defense
contract through them. You never know what is in store for you. Who
knows, ridesearch may actually get the nation into carpooling and I
could retire to the beaches of Maui. Ah Maui... In other news I really
really think I will be able to start alpha testing ridesearch by New
Years. It is gonna be fun. Have good weekend.

So the new tv season has begun. Phew, I was just about to get some
real work done when TV saved the day. So I usually TiVo Monday night
shows on CBS and decided to check out their new show,"Big Bang
Theory." It was a sitcom about nerds being friends with a girl. Boy
this one has failure written all over it. To begin with, it is doing
the complete nerd stereotype. Before I continue let me say I am not a
nerd, I am a geek. There is a difference. Nerds are highly intelligent
and lack social skills. Geeks are above normal intelligence and have
social skills. Dweebs and dorks don't have intelligence or social
skills. Now the show went over the top and portrayed the nerds as
having quantum equations in their house and being stereotypical bad
dressers and not being able to talk to women, but it was all extreme.
It was as if the cool kids were told to play the role of the nerd and
they made fun of them in every step... The problem was the actors
coolness showed through the nerdiness. They should've got real nerds
to play the parts. Poor nerds... Who knows, maybe you'll become cool
by people watching this show... Probably not. Well, you'll always have
Bill Gates :-)

This past weekend I learned from one of the webmasters that I need to
keep up with my creativity or I will lose it. I quickly surmised that
I was lacking in creativity due to the time consuming activities of
the year. Or in guitar terminology I haven't been keeping up my chops.
This drought of creativity has caused my brain to switch over to be
more analytical, thus making me more boring, and more obsessed over
things of a highly technical nature. I need to get back in the
creative swing. So I am thinking about joining a band, joining the
choir, taking an art class or writing a book. I haven't decided yet.
Any ideas?

This weekend I went to the "webamaster jam session" at a Dallas
convention center. Yes I actually paid money to see this thing.
Basically it was a bunch of presentations made by famous web
designers. There is a classification on the web world. A designer is
someone who works on graphics, look and feel of a website. A
developer, which is what I am, makes it work. This conference gave me
ideas for my current project, like the psychology of color and how to
position elements using Cascading style sheets. Anyway, it was
informative. On Sunday I went to Holly's family reunion in Ft.Worth.
It was interesting and I talked with her family members. Right now we
are trying to decide what to do with Holly's car because it is
unreliabe and I don't want her driving to the hood of Dallas with it.
So I am trying to figure out if we should by a restored car from her
uncle, a used car, or even a new car. We'd rather concentate on
savings than a car, so it is all up I'm the air. For now I am driving
her car until we get it fixed. Anyway, how was your weekend?

So we were at guys night reminiscing about my quirky behavior that
makes people laugh, or in laymen's terms stupidity. Like the time we
were leaving China Star in Wichita Falls. They had this bowl of
mints with a spoon in the bowl at the checkout counter. Everyone else
picked a mint out of the bowl with the spoon, put it in their hand and
ate the mint. Now I had never seen this technique before so what do I
do? I dip the spoon in the bowl, take the mints and put the spoon in
my mouth like cereal and eat the mints. I then put the spoon back in
the bowl and walk out the door oblivious to what I had done. I then
hear comments like," did you see the look on the cashiers face? I
can't believe you just did that.." blah blah blah. And that's my story
and I'm sticking to it. To this day I think of how having a spoon in a
bowl is just asking for someone to take a bite...

So what's up with me? Not much. Just living the married life. It is
fun. We still have a task list. Like thank you notes, Holly getting
her name changed, getting our video online and many others. Work does
interfere sometimes. I often wonder what I'd do if I didn't have to
work, but then I think I'd be bored. Well if I had money I would
probably tour the world with a rock band or something. Then maybe
start a mission somewhere. I guess I wouldn't be bored. Hmmm. Anyone
spare 10 million?

This weekend was good. I am so sore. I have started with a new personal trainer. He is training both me and Holly at the same time. So on Friday we both did that. On Saturday Holly represented me at 2 wedding showers and I represented her at Dallas One. Dallas One is an event where people from all different churches in Dallas get together and go out and help widows, orphans, and inmates with things like painting, yard mowing, cleaning and a ton of other activities. I helped paint a halfway house apartment for women who get out of prison and stay there for 6 months so they can get back on their feet. I was covered in paint before the day was done. There was a Christian rap concert at the end for the people of south Dallas that my brother George ran sound for. Then we had hot dogs. I came home, exhausted and sore and actually took a bath as opposed to shower. Considering my feet where officially painted white it was a good decision. On Sunday Holly and I went to another Married Sunday School class. We are still looking for one. It is amazing how I see old friends in every single class we attend. Then we went to Fuddruckers, then we fed the homeless, then I came home and watched the Cowboys open up a can against the Dolphins. I think we are going to the Super Bowl this year. Anyway, below is the message I gave last week at the homeless on hope. I think I am starting to get better at writing and delivering them . I am starting to improvise and can see what the audience is getting into vs. what they are ignoring. When I do that I can see that God is working in them. It is cool. Enjoy.

Click below for audio
http://www.brianaldenbass.com/Message09072007.wma

Click below for the text
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhqsrhj7_82gf96ng

Well i took the day off yesterday to work on my ridesearch I have been
working on this for over a year and vow that I will finish it. Right
now I've set another date, January 1st. I am cutting back on what it
does, just so I can finish in time. I kind of like working from home.
I can hang out in my pjs and watch tv while I am working. That is
cool. In other news looks like I am going to get some store credit for
my iPhone since I bought it weeks before they lowered the price.
Woohoo! In other news Holly is doing well and is adjusting to her new
commute but she still drives 2 hours every day. Besides that all is
good. How are things with you?

So today marks our 1 month anniversary. We can either mourn for John
Ritter or New Yorkers or celebrate our marriage. I think we should
remember the past but celebrate the present. Marriage has been good.
No big problems. I guess we are vets. I figure I'll write a book about
it and go around the country and lecture about a successful marriage.
Just kidding. Being married is so different than being single. You get
the benefit of massages and helping each other out to where life is
easier. You also are so tied to each other you always think about
them. Negotiaton of course is part of it all, but you learn over time
each others needs. It is cool and is an adventure. I wonder when we
stop becoming newlyweds. Hopefully never.. I guess it is when the
first person says,"the honeymoons over" For now my mind is still in
Maui :)

I have uploaded my songs to the Internet. I recorded these songs before the wedding and sang along to them in my car to remember the lyrics. I also recorded instramentals that were played at the wedding without vocals and lead guitar. I was really surprised at how well it all worked together live. Enjoy!

http://www.broadjam.com/brianaldenbass

So I will now tell the story of my honeymoon. I am used to telling
this by now cause I am always asked this question. I had originally
kept it a secret from Holly so she would be surprised in the airport.
We left the presidental hotel room at 8 in the morning the day after
the wedding. When we got to the airport the tickets said from Dallas
to Amarillo to Vegas to Maui. So I knew I had to tell her before I
gave her the ticket. Luckily the first flight ended in Vegas. So I
started saying "maybe it was all a rouse to go scuba diving, maybe we
are going to Vegas." then I couldn't hold it in anymore and said "
we're going to Maui!" She was ecstatic and I told her what we were
going to do. First our hotel was a five star hotel called the Fairmont
keana lei. It was like living in a mansion with servants waiting on us
hand and foot. There were five pools all overlooking the ocean with
palm trees and islands in the background. It was so peaceful. The
keyword is relaxing. Maui is the most relaxing place on earth. I
planned one activity a day. On Monday we went on a helicopter ride
around the island. That was fun and informative. We spent the rest of
the time sleeping cause we had a little jet lag. On Tuesday we drove
around a little in our yellow mustang convertible rental. We went to
cheeseburger in paradise and it was good. On Wednesday we started our
diving. We did 2 dives that day and went 64 feet below the surface. I
saw a baby turtle swim right near my head with a huge mama turtle
watching me from a cave. Thursday we did a night dive. That was fun as
Holly and I got to push a puffer fish like a balloon in the darkness
of the ocean. Friday we ended the trip with a Hawiiam luaow. It was
cool. Yes I tried a baked fish. The fire dancers had to be the coolest
as they juggled torches. Saturday was flight day. Unfortunately there
was a snafu with our luggage in Vegas so we had to spend the night
there at the Excalibur. I spent an hour at the tables and showed Holly
how easy it is to lose money. We finally got out of Vegas in the
morning and got back to Dallas in the afternoon. Holly's mom car
battery died in the airport so I got a security officer to give us a
jump. All is well as we arrived back home. I have to say that we
survived a hurricane - flossie missed us, an earthquake - we were
asleep when it hit the big island, and a tsunami - they cancellled it
when we got up, unaware that anything had happened. The weather was
perfect the whole time and the sunsets were beautiful. I guess we'll
have to go back again cause I think I left my sunscreen there, oops :-)

All of the wedding pictures are available at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/brianbass

Enjoy!