Some Pictures of Our "New" Car...

Yes, Brittan and I got a new car just a few weeks ago, and we are really enjoying it quite a bit. Here are a few pictures:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Some More Music...

Yes, I know this isn't a real blog post, but I feel guilty that I haven't posted anything for some time. So, here are some music videos of songs that I enjoy.

First, a live performance of the official love-song of the Vernon & Brittan Black Blog: The Luckiest, by Ben Folds.



Next, a very cool video for a very cool song written by the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie and a producer from England - the video itself reminds me of the Intel chips that my uncle makes:

Finally, another love song by another great artist - Coldplay:

I will try my best to get a real post up here some time in the near future...

Jon Schmidt - Check This Out

I realized that I posted this video on my Facebook account and completely spaced my blogosphere - here it is.  Great way to start any day.

Time in the Real World

I would apologize for not posting more frequently, but the truth is that I can't be too sorry - I've just been spending so much time in the real world lately that it has been difficult for me to get back to the blogosphere.  In short - my excuse is that of one busy guy!

For the past 5 months, I have been going to school for my Master's at the University of Utah - while working full-time at an engineering firm near our home in Bountiful.  Well, to make a long story short, these things have kept me busy, but I have managed to perform well in both of them.  My grades are back from my first semester of graduate studies - A's all around - and I just got a promotion at work to be a Project Engineer.  This means I get to be the client's first point of contact once I start getting assigned projects to be responsible for.  It's very exciting, and also a little bit nerve-wracking.  At any rate, I am excited for the possibility the future holds for Brittan and myself.

I'm going to have to cut this one short, but thank you for your time.

My Husband

I just read our blog and all I have to say is I love my husband. Even when he writes a two page analytical essay about facebook. What can I say he makes life alot more interesting even though I end up being embarressed half of the time. I know I give him a hard time but in the end I wouldn't want to change one thing about him. Well, I would like it if he stopped posting pictures of me that I really don't like.:)

Recent Pictures

As was mentioned in brief post a few of weeks ago, Brittan and I went to Orlando at the end of February for a week.  Below is a slideshow dedicated to that trip, as well as some of the pictures from my birthday celebration on the 8th of March.

The trip pictures are basically in four sections, divided by where they were taken.  The first place is Walt Disney World, the second is the Harry Leu Botanical Gardens in Orland, the third is Universal Studios and the fourth is SeaWorld Orlando.

Let me know what you think!

My First 7 Days of Facebook...

First of all, I have to apologize for not posting any pictures or videos from our vacation yet.  I will be doing so shortly.  I had some very grand schemes in mind to produce an amazing video using some software that we got with Brittan's new computer, but as it turns out, there isn't nearly enough time available in the real world to do everything you want to.  I'll probably just post one of my favorite videos and then a slew of pictures and call it good for now.

Anyways, on to my real point for this post...

While Brittan and I were in Florida, we visited with one of Brittan's long-lost cousins (I probably haven't met 90% of her extended family) who lives there.  Brittan asked for contact information, and her cousin told us about facebook.

Mind you, I had heard of facebook before, and I had immediately lumped it together with all of those other social networking sites out there.  I have received invitations to join at least three or four of those social networking sites in my e-mail before, but I never found any of them to be effective enough to be worthwhile.  Specifically, I had a hard time justifying the effort it took for me to connect with people I knew, generally because the people I wanted to connect with weren't using that particular network.  In fact, it was my general dissatisfaction with my previous experiences in social networking websites that led me to start this blog.

Needless to say, I was fairly skeptical about the idea of using facebook to get in touch with people.  Less than a week after returning home, however, I gave it a try.  I don't know if I did it more because of Brittan's cousin suggesting it or if I did it more out of curiosity from all of the coverage facebook has received in the media lately.  Either way, you get the same result.  I dove into something that I never thought I would do.

I signed on for the first time on March 5 at 10:30 AM.  Brittan had created her profile the previous day, and insisted that I have my own, rather than sharing.  I was immediately impressed by how easy it was to find people I knew on this network.  This was obviously something different from my previous social networking experiences.  I was also very impressed by the varying levels of access control provided by the site.  Although the steady stream of e-mails arriving in my Hotmail inbox was somewhat irritating at first, I quickly found the controls to change that, as well.

Within a week, I have managed to find nearly 140 friends, past and present.  Best of all, it was surprisingly easy.  Even better - I get the feeling that the site has a lot more to offer that I haven't even begun to explore.

I know this has been sounding somewhat like a sales pitch, but I assure you that it isn't all good news between facebook and myself.  I am still not quite satisfied with the communication tools available.  When it comes to making general observations about life, I prefer to use our blog, simply because it seems more accessible.  Anything posted on facebook quickly becomes buried by all of the continual activity surrounding it.  The blog is more stationary, much easier to control.

Ideally, I would like to use facebook to help people visit our blog more frequently.  I have already posted links between the two, and I'm hoping that I can figure out the best way to handle my online presence.  I love the idea of being able to communicate with people that I know, love and respect, even if we are separated by thousands of miles and nearly a decade of experiences.  It has been a lot of fun so far.  And even though blogs and facebook conversations will never replace being with these people in person, I prefer having a meager online relationship to having no contact whatsoever.  I'm sure that Brittan feels the same way.

If any of you out there have any ideas, just let me know.

Greetings from Orlando, Florida!

So, yeah, just wanted to let everybody know what Brittan and I have been up to recently.  The most notable event is that I HAD to come down to Florida for a work-related training conference - so I brought Brittan with me.  We came down a couple of days early and went to Disney World.  The picture below is just a very small sampling of what is to come.

We'll be getting back home tomorrow and I'll have to see about getting some videos and more pictures posted.

Has anyone seen my terrible towel?

In December of 1975, Myron Cope, the radio announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers, introduced to the world an item that would become one of the most infamous (or famous, depending on which side of the fence you are on) symbols in all of sports.  That item is, of course, the world's first "rally towel," The Terrible Towel.

I think it should be noted here that this is far more than just another meaningless sports gimmick.  Did you know that Myron Cope had an autistic son?  Well, he did, and so when the terrible towel took off in popularity after the Steelers won a Super Bowl later that season, he determined that he would use that popularity to benefit a cause close to his heart.  Since very early in its existence, part of the proceeds from every officially-licensed terrible towel sold go to the Allegheny Valley School, which provides care and education for over 900 people with mental or physical disabilities.  This continues even after the death of Myron Cope, who died on February 27th of last year (2008).  So, supporting the Steelers also supports a very good cause.

Now for my dilemma - I want a terrible towel.  I have been to several sports stores in the area and they are all out.  Go figure - the Steelers win a Super Bowl, and everybody wants to buy another terrible towel for their collection.  They aren't that expensive, at about $7-$8 each.  Now, for me, it's just a matter of locating one.  I would order one online, but I have a couple of problems with that:  1) It takes the fun out of finding one in person; and 2) Rumor has it that the internet is out of them, too.

If any of you out there have a chance as you are passing by a local sports-gear store to take a look, and you happen to see one of these precious treasures, please let me know immediately - I will make it worth your while...Well, maybe I should check with Brittan first...

So full..Ugh! Or, Counting Myself Lucky.

For those of you who do not know, my dear sweet wife is an amazing cook.  Besides a couple of minor lapses of judgment when we were engaged involving the 5-second rule and food that ended up on my plate, she has proven to me that she can prepare and serve a mean meal.

Lately, that has become ever so much more apparent.  Ever since she quit working and went back to school full-time (something she hasn't done since high school), she has been trying to fill her time with productive activities.  This last couple of weeks she has decided to make cooking her new hobby.  I say cooking, but I really mean "everything that can possibly be done in the kitchen," including baking, broiling, etc.

Of course, my initial impression was the same as that of any other husband who ever finds himself so lucky as to be present during his wife's development into a domestic goddess:  I was very happy.  It all began with her searching for "yummy" recipes online, then it snowballed into the purchase of five more cook-books (including one that apparently had sentimental value), along with the ingredients to make enough food to feed the two of us for approximately 2 months with just the desserts alone.

As you can see from the diagram above, "Fats, Oils & Sweets" are in the smallest part of the food pyramid.  They are also the principal ingredients in any dessert with any detectable level of tastiness.  And even though the argument could be made that cookies contain grains, which are in the biggest part of the food group, let's face it - desserts are not a health food.  Unfortunately.  I have also found out that too many desserts at once are not so good for the digestive system...Oh well, I won't be making that mistake again (who are we kidding, of course I will).

The most impressive thing about this is that Brittan has never, in the two-and-a-half years we have been married, been on a cooking spree like this before.  I emphasize the "like this," because she has, as I mentioned before, always been an excellent cook and has made some of the most delectable food creations to ever grace my tongue.  But before, we always had time to finish the leftovers from the previous creation well before the next one was made.  This time, she has too many ideas she wants to try to give me time to finish the leftovers.  Appetizers, entrees, desserts - you name it, we have plenty of them, or the ingredients to make some more, or both.

So, this leads me to the big question:  is there anybody that needs dinner plans?  We've got plenty to go around!

True Confessions of a Fanatic

First off, I have to start by mentioning something that most people know about me:  I am a huge fan of the Utah Jazz.  This generally doesn't surprise people, since I grew up in Utah - of course I would have some affinity to the local major league sports franchise.  It's interesting that I never did have the opportunity growing up to follow them as much as I would have liked, but I always followed as closely as I could.  Once again, no surprise.

What generally comes as more of a surprise to people is that I am at least as big of a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  I have been since I was fairly young.  I still remember listlessly watching them get crushed at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX, back when Neal O'Donnell and Kordell Stewart were on the team.  It should therefore come as no surprise that I look on the Cowboys with something between disgust and contempt.  I also remember my then-future father-in-law secretly tuning in to Super Bowl XL every so often to watch his Seahawks (my in-laws are from the northwest) lose to Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward and Jerome Bettis.

My love for the Steelers really stems from my father.  Although he wasn't as big of a sports fan as some other members of his family, he grew up in the Pittsburgh area and so had an affinity for the major-league teams of the steel city.  As an off-shoot of this, I am also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Pittsburgh Pirates, although I didn't ever really care enough for baseball or hockey growing up to follow them.  Of course, the Pirates have also been horrendous in recent years, so there wasn't much worth following.

At any rate, I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell everybody who cares to know that, even though I probably won't watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, I will be checking to see who wins.  I have no doubt that Big Ben, Willie Parker, Heath Miller, Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and that amazing defense will come through for us members of Steeler Nation yet again!

A Step Back in Time?

I found this interesting contraption while I was surfing the web today and thought maybe somebody else might find it as interesting as I did.

Above all else, I find it interesting that, in this day and age, when high-quality digital music is so easy to obtain and enjoy, there are still companies out there that produce "outdated" equipment that can produce such high-quality sounds. Never mind the fact that one of these will set you back about $64,000, or enough money to buy nearly 180 solid days' worth of music on iTunes.