The item you last purchased

June 3rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Today the last I purchased was a domain name: sloppymessydrunk.com

There is a reason.

Earlier this evening, I was at the Frisco Pride social at Cross Roads Winery, and I was reading about how this winery allows you to buy a barrel of wine and then bottle/label it yourself. After posting this on twitter how I thought this would be a great idea to do, a friend responded “what would the label look like?” and I responded “Sloppy Messy Drunk” and I thought, that would be a great domain name — and now I own it. It will be on my bottle :-)

Meaning behind your blog name

June 2nd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Maybe I should have changed this one.

My blog name is pretty simple: “james nunn | blog”

My older blogs were titled “online and exposed” which suggested that I was (1) online; and (2) exposed, as in allowing people who may stumble across my blog to look inside my life. I used to post a lot of more personal entries, but then it got a little complicated, so I started to self sensor. Then you start to work, and this is a factor that you need to take into account as not to embarrass your employer, or yourself. So I simplified — which is a pretty common tactic that I use from day to day. I call my blog what it is — a blog.

Pretty boring.

Introduce yourself with a recent picture and 15 interesting facts

June 1st, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Day 1

Here is a recent picture of me. This was taken at the NCAA Division I Championship in Frisco earlier in the year.

So that is me. On a cold night in the bleachers at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco.

Next are fifteen interesting facts about me (the interest level may vary, but I’m listing things that some may know about, and others will learn about).

  1. I am Australian.
  2. I am a Gemini (under the old system, and I don’t think I’m going to move to the new system).
  3. At the time of this post, I am 42 years old.
  4. I am gay (this should not be  a shock or surprise to anyone).
  5. I have a phenomenal partner in life, Chris.
  6. We have two dogs: Bosley and Colby.
  7. I have one tattoo and one piercing.
  8. I have done 4-5 naked runs (5Ks).
  9. I don’t like open water (or crazy people driving boats on water).
  10. I love the beach, but rarely swim in the ocean.
  11. I have been in three relationships in my life.
  12. I do eat Vegemite on toast and other things.
  13. I had LASIK in 1998, but now have to wear glasses for reading and the computer.
  14. I was meant to be named “Eric Russell Nunn” but due to odd reasons, I was named after my mother’s father.
  15. I have three brothers (2 older, 1 younger) and 1 sister (younger).

 

New Home

March 17th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Well after starting the whole process of finding a new home and building it, we have finally moved into our new abode!  I have to say it is pretty amazing, and I am enjoying the time that we are taking to get to know our new house.

For those that frequented our previous home, you may have heard us refer to it as “EGB” which is a pretend airport code (waypoint) for our home. After much searching, we have given our new home the code “CDF” which stands for Casetta Drive Frisco. Of course CAS would have been great, but that is Casablanca (kismet anyone?). So if you are ever invited to CDF, you will know what we are talking about.

As of tonight we would have been in our house one day short of a week. It has been an incredible week, and most of the first few days was spent moving. We are still moving, as we are slowly working through emptying out our storage unit. The dogs are settling into the new place, however they are still a little unsure of why they are here. As long as Chris or I stay relatively close, we are in a good spot with the boys.

So far there has not been anything too disastrous with our move. The moving company did damage our front door, but we are moving forward with that. Our audio / network installation has been a different story. It’s one of those things that you hope won’t be an issue, but invariably it is. So far we have two ports that don’t work, and what seems to be a missing subwoofer cable in our family room. Needless to say it is the little things that really make the experience all that less exciting.

Chris’s mom and brother are currently living with us, so we have a full, but comfortable living arrangement right now. I’m glad that we are not living at the old place right now as I think it would be a little more close and problematic (with having more people to maneuver around small places). It gives us an idea of how it is going to be later this year when my mother and sister come to visit for a couple of months. Overall, it has been a pretty great start to our new life at CDF!

Here is a picture of the house that was taken by our new neighbor during the most recently snow storm.

2010: A Review

January 1st, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink

Back in January 2010, I posted a list of goals (or resolutions) that I had. While I was able to achieve some of these, many of these went uncompleted. As I give thought to what I want to achieve in 2011, here is a review of 2010.

1. Start a family. Chris and I have been discussing when the right time would be for having a child, and as we are both getting older, we’ve decided that now is as good a time as any. We are exploring different options for us to make this happen, and as we make progress, we’ll be posting up

No luck with this, however our friends Bobby and Ian did start theirs. So we have become uncles to the handsome Mr. Parker (“P-diddy”). In 2011 we shall continue to explore this option for Chris and I.

2. Successfully renew my work visa for the next couple of years. This will be a critical step for us to achieve goal number 1, as well as keeping me working at the best nonprofit agency in the US of A.

Done, and with a new attorney. What a major difference it is to have someone handling this application who actually knows what they are doing.

3. Participate in at least four (4) 5K runs. This in part is related to the first goal, and will help with our training. One of our goals is to include our Little Brother in one of these runs towards the latter part of the year.

I completed 50% of these. I can’t say that I was in the best shape, but I made it to the finish line in both races.

4. Complete a half-marathon. Chris and I are going to try to complete the White Rock Half-Marathon later this year. We will be working towards building up our distance and stamina to make this a reality, and thankfully it is on the other side of summer, so there will be many opportunities to train.

Um, no. Maybe 2011.

5. Complete a 5K run in under 30 minutes. The best that I’ve ever done was just under 33 minutes, so with some focus and determination this should be a relatively easy goal to make.

Almost, but another incomplete.

6. Travel to at least one place that I’ve never been before outside of the United States. Right now there are discussions for a trip to the Mexican Riviera which would fulfill this goal, but should this not happen, there will be another trip that we will need to take.

We made it to Mexico!

7. Successfully meet the goals for my new role on the Youth First Texas board. This will include the fundraising component, but it also relates to working with the board to overcome some of the issues that the organization is facing right now.

Done. I will be honest and say that it was a lot more work than I originally thought but it has been an amazing experience and I am looking forward to continuing to build on the work that I have started this past year in 2011.

8. Continue to improve general health. While the running (exercise) will definitely help with this, I do need to put a goal about weight loss, or general health on my list. I would like to drop back to at least a 32? waist before summer starts, and that will be something that I will attempt to do.

Health has improved, especially mental health. I did get a little thinner for the summer, but maintenance has never been my thing. We have rejoined the gym, and we will be adhering to a stricter fitness routine in the new year.

9. Travel to Australia to visit family, including family I did not get an opportunity to meet up with during our last visit in 2009. At this stage our thinking is to make the trip around Christmas this year, but that will depend a great deal on Qantas making it financially possible.

With our travels to Mexico, the trip to Australia didn’t happen. 2011 will see a family reunion.

10. Maintain healthier relationships. This is something that may be more difficult to measure, but it’s one goal that I have to focus on more. We tend to get caught up in the world as it rushes by us each day, and it is becoming more important to me to spend time with my friends, along with making new friends.

I think I have been successful in this. I’ve definitely expanded my circle of friends, and I don’t think this has affected my existing relationships. Of course, others may disagree.

Happy Holidays

December 24th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

When A Neighborhood Becomes Unfriendly

September 11th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink

I’m going to start by stating my bias. I don’t have a lot of love for my current HOA board, especially some of the decisions that they make.

Many of the decisions appear to me – at least – to be self serving (this is where my bias comes in).

Take for example the latest decision by the board to install small custom made signs at the entrance of the community. These signs tell the viewer that they are not allowed to trespass, they are not allowed to fish and they are not allowed to loiter. The intention behind these signs is for the common area within our community, however the placement of these signs don’t suggest just that. The placement suggests that people can’t trespass on the city streets that run through our community (something which the HOA board has no control over).

This action by itself is not the reason for this post. This is just one of a few actions that the board has taken over the last couple of years that make me wonder if our HOA board didn’t get the message about (1) being good neighbors, or (2) being Texas-friendly.

About 8 years ago, the then board place soem very nice signs in the green belt that advised visitors that the area was private property and for the use of residents of Plantation Springs. Both signs were placed in an area that was noticeable. Of course, many people ignored this, and the infractions by non-Plantation Springs residents ate away at a couple of members of the board. So about a year ago, the board moved the signs to more “prominent” places, which were not prominent at all. One of these signs were almost deliberately nestled among the branches of the trees that lined the creek. I questioned the decision at the time, and was told that it was a great community project for a local boy scout troop. I guess that made it alright.

Then one of the signs got damaged, and the board advised that they would be repairing this and replacing this this sign. For months now, there has been a wooden pole sitting in the ground with no sign. The board were “working on it” advised the property manager when questioned a couple of months ago. Perhaps the tiny metal signs were the replacements. Questionable.

Did I mention that one board member actually attaches flyers to cars that park in the street to warn them that they are not welcome? Yeah, we are a real friendly bunch here.

time for change

September 11th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

After being in our house for almost ten years (January 2011) we have decided to start the House 2.0 project. Chris and I have been looking around for a couple of years for the next “perfect” home for us to live in. We initially thought that we could find a foreclosed property that we could work with, however the only time that the right house appeared, there was so much that needed to be done to it, that we both decided that it wasn’t worth pursuing. Then we stopped looking for a while as we got busy with other projects.

Then in July we had been talking with some friends and they had just singed up to build a new house, and we once again explored the option of building House 2.0 rather than trying to find a home that fit our needs. It was here that we found Sorana Estates thanks to our friends. Both of us fell in love with the community (not that one exists yet), and the layout of the development. We even found a house that we both really liked.

Move forward to today and House 2.0 is now starting to become a reality. We even have a website ready with the beginnings of everything everyone needs to know about the house. Feel free to check out the website.

So all things working in our favor, we will calling House 2.0 home around March 2011. More details to come.

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