City of Lights

Once again I have failed to write even 1 entry per month. This does not however mean I have done nothing. Jeff and I just returned from the ever-dirty Las Vegas and I was happy to leave (so were my lungs due to casino smoke). Although not all of our goals were acheived at the ISC West conference the important ones were taken care of. Jeff has not been feeling too well but felt ok in the days leading up to the trip. However once we arrived he started feeling woozy again and spent all of Thursday in the hotel room trying not to puke (which he failed at). We're home now however and doing fine.

The last month has been full of wedding plans. I have successfully (with the help of Emily)...

• Purchased a tux
• Worried about a honeymoon to Mexico given current conditions
• Made progress with the invites, should be printed this weekend

Emily has done too many things to count but she's doing great work and everything is coming together nicely.

I have also finally started my final class @ BYU! I actually signed up for it nearly a year ago (independent study) and have finally finished a few chapters. It's a general education class to fulfill a history 202 level class. So I'm studying the history of the world from about 1500 onward. Did you know...

• The chinese had massive ships well before Europe?
• 3% of total African slaves made it to the US? At least total that came to the Americas, which incidentally was more than 90% (I don't remeber the exact number)...very few ended up in the Ottoman empire
• The vast majority of all slaves were captured and sold by competing African tribes? Generally as POWs
• Kowtow is a sweet way of showing respect?

One Year

One Year
Originally uploaded by travisghansen

As usual the first couple months of the year have flown by. Since my last post I've had a birthday (Jan 16th), Emily had a birthday (Jan 26th), and Valentine's day has passed. A couple weekends ago Emily and I went to St. George with Kelsey and Spencer to enjoy a nice little weekend of warm(er) weather. It still wasn't very warm, but it was warmer than Logan. The next weekend we went back to Orem again for Presidents' Day weekend and had a good time. We had a chance to see "All Shook Up" at one of my favorite place the Hale Center Theater. It was a great production and I'd like to see it again. While I'm on that note I've also been helping the theater get some online ticketing rollling. Give it whirl here.

As the title says, Emily and I have officially been dating for a year now as well!

In other news, the wedding plans are slowly coming along. I have

• Ordered Plane Tickets
• Taken Care of Passports
• Booked Our Week Stay in Mexico :)

I still need to

• Write Up Some Memories
• Get a Tux
• Finalize Announcements
• Get Emily's Ring Back From the Jeweler

On the work side of things I have been busy trying to find an intern to help us with the work load. I've also been studying vigorously and fruitlessly how to send text (sms) messages with our server. I'm inching closer to a solution but have yet to actually get anything to work. Once that's done I'll probably spend a little time getting IM integrated into the software as well. I'm also getting ready to start a project with Facebook. I hate 'social networks' but maybe this project will be worth my time :)

Blog Blender

So I've had this nerdy little thing known as "planet" running for a while on my server but I've never really told anyone about it. In as simple terms as possible it takes a bunch of blogs and mixes (blends) them together onto one page. It even has 1 single rss feed for those of you who care...if you don't know what I'm talking about ignore that part. Anyway, for those family members of mine on the Berrett side I created a Berrett Buzz Planet that blends all of our blogs together...or at least those that I know of. Anyway, if you click through and you're remotely a Berrett you'll find a nice little link to send me an email at the top of the page where you can send me the link to your blog and I'll get it added to the list. A couple disclaimers...

• The url to the site may change
• It gets automatically updated every hour
• This is to supplement the Berrett Buzz newsletter...not replace it

Also, ever since I returned home from a mission to Brazil I have tried to make a little more Christmas Cheer possible there for those who have far less than I. Here are some pictures of this year's effort. Thanks to all those who have donated in the past to make this possible.

In other news I'll be heading to Raleigh, NC all of next week. Come say 'hi' if you can (I'm looking at you Shnidah).

Hansen and Snider

Hansen and Snider
Originally uploaded by travisghansen

During my trip to Charlotte the best part was visiting with my good friend Matt Snider and his wonderful wife Chelsee. I spent a couple nights with them eating good food and playing games. My favorite parts were..

• Playing Smart Ass
• Eating yummy food (Chelsee's cake and Zaxbies chicken)
• Chatting
• Showing off our musical talents
• and watching The Office

Thanks a bunch you guys..I love you!