It’s been a while since I’ve had the camera out. Here are some of the latest snap shots.

I cooked up my first batch of spare ribs the other day. This is just before they went under the broiler.

This is immediately afterward. After this I put them in the crock pot with BBQ sauce for about 8 hours on low. Turned out excellent. Got several ‘yums’ from Mrs. Shoo.

I took a day off today because Mrs. Shoo is on Spring break. We took the dogs out to one of the parks by the lake. Tons of smells and exploring for them.  It is hard to believe that Spring is here.

I was letting the dogs walk on the rocks. They kept going to this one spot and I couldn’t figure out why till I looked for myself. GaH! Snakes not on a plane!

Awkward family dog photos.

Buddy was breed to be a model. He does this pose very well.

It’s been a while since I’ve actually ‘written’ a blog, so this one will be in note form.

After a year and a half, a guy has been hired to take over my position as the server administrator on a project that I’ve been working on. Huge relief to have my weekends back and a silent phone throughout the night. The new guy has actually come from a job where he was working overtime and being on call 24/7. This is a new step for him to a slower paced job.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a triathlon this summer. More specifically a sprint triathlon. The flu has kept me out of the gym the last two weeks, but I’m finally feeling better. I’m no where in shape for a triathlon yet, but it is attainable. I’ve got the biking part down.

Spent an hour getting my truck out of my front yard this morning. I usually park in the front of the house with one side of the truck just off the side of the road. Well, last night we got a good 6″ of snow. When I pulled out this morning the back of my truck swung into the front yard. I eased it up and out of the front yard till I got my front wheel stuck in my neighbor’s yard. Lucky another neighbor came over and gave me a hand. It was one of those days that I just thought about leaving my truck cockeyed in my front yard and working from home.

Winter is really starting to wear on me. Well, probably everyone. I keep having daydreams of firing up the charcoal grill and taking the bike for a long ride. Some day… some day.

I haven’t posted anything in a while, but I was going through my Flickr photos. Thought I’d put together a post of my favorites from last year.

Sarah and her ‘baby’ Clancy.

The hipster generation. From Lolla 2010.

This was taken down in the basement. Light was just right.

My first, and so far only, wedding I shot. Dave & Ericka.

Sarah Borges and Binky.

From the front of the house.

Snapped on the way back home from a bike ride.

The wimpiest dog ever.

From our honey moon in South Padre.

I don’t know if work has gotten the best of me or life has just turned on auto-pilot mode but blogging material seems to be barren. Instead, I’ll just make a list.

1. Favorite musician of the moment: Jack Conte

I’ve watched a ton of his videos on YouTube. He does covers and originals. Radiohead and Panic at the Disco are two of my favorite covers. I was watching a video the other day on Humzoo, when I realized that the music in the video sounded very familiar. Ended up buying his album from iTunes 10 minutes after watching the video.

2. The new design of Engadget.com is adding some new design inspiration for a new http://spfldbloggers.com

3. This is what my view looks like every afternoon when it’s not cloudy.

4. I’ve finished two sites for clients last month:

JohnRomang.com

Creativemphasis.com

Both sites were for friends. Both sites feature custom software written by me to manage their portfolio.

5. Mrs. Shoo is pretty talented:

That is all.

A majority of the Shoo milestones have made it to the blog in one way or another. Somehow, I totally ignored publishing anything here on our 2nd anniversary which was 11/10. It’s been a busy weekend and I did send her a message on Twitter and Facebook, so I think I covered the bases for social media.

Happy 2 year anniversary to my beautiful wife!

The flowers I sent Mrs Shoo.

Today it reached up to the mid-70’s. The was also in rare form with clouds.

I found a backup CD from 2001 with old photos on it. This was back in my ‘punk’ stage after high school.

Steve and I outside waiting for a concert. Check out the bleach blond hair! My parents loved that.

Billy Spunke from the Blue Meanies, a Chicago based Ska band. Man, whatever happened to Ska? From Wikipedia, the Blue Meanies disbanded in late 2001.

Steve and I posing with Mike Park of Asian Man Records.

Jeff (vocals) and Bruce (bass) of Nil8. I see Jeff riding bikes all the time. Dreads hanging out of his helmet.

Lead singer for Alkaline Trio.

So the blog hasn’t been updated in almost a month. Ehh, shoot me. With a camera of course.

Clancy.

The house. Still a ton of DIY projects to do. But never enough time.

Our new pet. Don’t tell Sarah. She’s deathly afraid of them.

Me being artsy. Wired vs Wireless.

I’ve got a neighbor buddy that is always asking, “Can Chris play?” Somehow he’s gotten word that I have lots of toys, a.k.a. computers. He came over the other night, ringed the door bell, ringed it again, and when that didn’t work he started pounding on the door.

“Chris can we play?”

How was I ever going to say no? I told him, “Well, I don’t have any kids games.”

Thanks to a reminder from Mrs. Shoo, we headed downstairs to the “big computer”  and the internet to surf for some kids games. Mrs. Shoo had been the one that put the bug in his ear about the “big computer.” It was the only thing he wanted to see.

I opened the browser and headed to Nickelodeon and PBS Kids.

He’s only 3 but his little hand navigated the mouse with ease. He knows his shapes, colors and even picked up on some rhymes with help from Mrs. Shoo.

He was over for about an hour when his mom and sisters came over to pick him up. He wasn’t happy that he had to back home and started having a three year old’s mental break down. We had the big boy talk and I assured him that he could come over another time.

Really, how could I say no?

I’ve had a few late nights this week. Sonic to the rescue.

For months, and I mean months, I’ve had my calendar reserved for May 31st for one of my favorite bands, The Decemberists. Even on my work schedule when we usually do code move-ups on Sunday’s, I made adjustments so it wouldn’t interfere with our plans.

I should have known we were in for a treat when we hit the road and I plugged the FM transmitter in on my iPod and it crashed. It completely locked beyond a reboot. We were stuck with one CD in the car and the radio for the trip. A travesty to be stuck with top-40 but no reason to turn back.

The Decemberists have always been a heavy play on my iPod. I fell head over heals for The Crane’s Wife, continued to Picaresque, and recently added the new album The Hazards of Love. I’ve been listening non-stop since I bought our tickets.

Before the concert we were meeting up with another couple and I wanted to go out to eat to Schlafly’s Bottle Works restaurant. The last time I had been there was for my bachelor party and we had a great time. Excellent food, even better beer. I thought it would be a great way to start the night out.

The girls got the chicken pesto pasta salad and the guys got the special jerk pork tenderloin. There were so many yummms and ooooohhh’s that you would think something else was going on at the table. Dinner was excellent.

We’re at the concert and we’re all stuffed to gills. We all buy a beer in preparation of long lines once the crowd shows up. The first band, Blind Pilot, plays for about 45 minutes. Their music is more folksy and softer than the Decemberists, but I let the other couple know to hang on because they’re in for a treat. Little did we know.

Finally at a little after 9pm the band takes the stage, just about the same time Sarah starts getting a little quezy. I played it off as Sarah was overtaken by Colin Meloy’s awesomeness. Sarah leaves and comes back shortly letting me know that she’s not feeling well at all. We go outside to get some fresh air when all the sudden the chicken pesto pasta decides to make a reappearance.

After the rude appearance, the other couple comes out as Sarah is starting to put herself back together. Sarah says she’s feeling better and ready to attempt to go back into the concert. We were all started to head back in the concert when the Sarah’s girlfriend Tereasa goes “WAIT A MINUTE!” and her chicken pesto pasta starts to make a reappearance.

At that time, I knew the concert was over for all of us. Kind of like the scratch of a needle leaving a record then being smashed against a wall, repeatedly.

Tereasa’s boyfriend Milo and I start heading back to the car when we notice two security guards coming out to address the chicken pesto pasta situation. Luckily we turned around to inform them that the girls were sick and we were off to get the car. They were going to call the cops because they thought the girls were drunk. That would have been a real treat.

Lucky for Tereasa and Milo they live in St. Louis. Un-luckily for the Shoo’s we didn’t and graciously thanked our guests for the opportunity to stay over night, but we both just wanted to be at home. It was a long drive home.

I felt so bad for the girls, and they kept apologizing for getting sick, but what could you do other than head back home? It was a nasty situation. I think I am going to estabish a no eating before concerts rule before the next concert we go to.

All-in-all, we saw about 15 minutes of the Decemberists.

On the way home my iPod finally un-crashed itself. I listened to Hazards of Love all the way back.

I hate chicken pesto pasta.

Hello good blog readers of the intertubes. I’m still, some days barely, here. Work, side work, and work have been rather busy lately so they have taken up the majority of the time. But don’t worry, Mrs. Shoo is still taking care of me, possibly trying to work me into a heart attack (i.e. see above photo).

I haven’t been able to post photos regularly, but I still keep my camera with me. Here’s an update to what has been happening.

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I think I am burned out on blogging. Again.

Going to let the blog batteries recharge. Have a few new projects in the workings for the masses. Specifically the Springfield masses.

Check me out on Twitter till the next post.

Bueller? Bueller?

Yes, Ferris is the latest piece in the Shoo household. It was my year to pick and it was actually pretty difficult. Besides having to make a decision on John’s great artwork, he was showing another artist which made the decision twice as hard. But for some reason Ferris was calling my name “Shoo?, Shoo?”

Maybe it was because the movie so iconic or a particular quote that stuck out from the movie, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

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Birthday wishes from gotshoo on Vimeo.

Birthday wishes. Fastforward to the 5:00 mark to see Mrs. Shoo’s birthday wishes.