NewsGator is a baby factory

More big news is in the works. Anita, one of the original three people to start with NewsGator just posted an exciting announcement on her blog. Congratulations babe!!!

Picture of Conner

Jack has finally broken the silence and posted! including a picture of Conner Zack Brewster.

New NewsGator Baby

A huge congratulations to my comrade-in-arms Jack here at NewsGator Support on the birth of his first child.

Yesterday, Jack and Keley Brewster announced that Conner Brewster arrived on this earth at 11:00am

Best wishes Jack! Make sure you take some time off to enjoy being with your family, because you won't be getting much sleep for quite some time...

Yard Of Ale

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

The other exciting thing that we did this weekend was go to an Old English pub...

Now don't mistake me here, it's not a bar that LOOKS like an Old English pub, it was actually packed into crates and shipped to the US in the early 1800's. The Golden Bee was GREAT fun, and since I was at a place with such an inviting name, I decided to get a Yard of honey-wheat beer from a local Colorado Springs brewery. Damn it was good. All 48 ounces of it!

Ruby at Garden of the Gods - Landscape

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Last picture of Ruby for now

Ruby at Garden of the Gods

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

After we gave Ruby a bath; Abby, Karen, Gary and myself went for a picnic to Garden of the Gods.

Between going for a walk and eating our picnic lunch, we decided to take a few portraits of the newest member of my family

Ruby Front

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

From the front

Ruby is Dry

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Ruby the Honda VTX all clean and dry after her first Road trip

Ruby's Tank

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Ruby is a deep red color called "Candy-Apply Red"

The paint also has a metalic fleck running through it that makes it just POP in the sunlight.

Ruby Gets Washed

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

New Bike, Gorgeous weather, Life is Good!!!

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Well what a weekend!! After agonizing over price, color, year and dealer for the last few weeks, I finally purchased and brand new motor cycle! This beautiful read beast has been dubbed "Ruby" by me (Abby still has to be convinced) and she rides like a dream.

After riding crotch-rockets my entire life, this is a huge change for me. My last bike was a CBR600 affectionally named Anabel that I owned for 7 years. It was a 21st birthday gift to myself, and it was a tearful fairwell for both Abby and myself when we had to give her up to move to the US. Ruby is a cruiser. Though the lovely mountain passes would be fun on something that has the ability to go 200mph, I think the torquey grunt of a more relaxed ride will be great for longer trips.

Here are Ruby's stats:
Make - Honda
Model - VTX1300C
Displacement - 1312cc
Color - "Candy-apple" red

After purchasing her on Saturday, we HAD to take her for a road trip. Abby and I jumped on the back and flew down to Colorado Springs via highway 83 - It was a lovely ride. We were running against some afternoon showers, and fortunately managed to miss them. There was, however, some water on the road from earlier in the day, so she did get pretty dirty in downtown Denver. Here we are giving her a bath for the first time.

Kabob anyone??

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

This photo is a little incriminating... From left to right: Joe, Tim and Me were a little drunk (Tim more than a little), I have a plate full of kabobs, and we had each just finished 2 very large cigars.

Funnily enough Tim didn't last too long after this picture - He was in the shower recovering for most of the evening.

Sundown

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

The beach at sundown is so romantic!

The full cake

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Here is a full cake for those who are interested. I'm told the layers were chocolate mudcake and marble cake.

Given enough incentive I may just post a couple of incriminating pictures of Abby consuming some of it ;)

Creepily similar

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

It's very weird how much the cake toppers looked like the wedded couple!

The Bride and Groom

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Here are the Bride and Groom (Mike and Mandy) from the wedding that took us across the world.

Mike and I go back quite a way - We worked together for a number of years, then we lived together for a while (about 3 years all up). So it was great to see him get married and have someone else to cook for him now that I live in the US!

Harbour take 2

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Here's another shot of the harbour.

Wollongong Harbour

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

A picture from my home town! This is the beach, harbour, and twin lighthouses from where I grew up.

2 Weeks off work and STILL not one post

I have no excuse!! It's been almost 2 months since I last posted to this blog. I could say that I was busy, but I've been in Autralia for the last 2 weeks and should have put some thoughts down.

So to get back into the swing of things, I think I'll start will a couple of shorter posts. Look out for some pictures of my vacation!