journaling: enabled

I haven’t been inspired lately, as the fact that I haven’t posted in a month.  Work has been going pretty well.  I’m making a little progress on some projects that have been kinda shifting around on the back of the stove while other people do their thing for them.  It’s sometimes frustrating not knowing where my projects sit on other people’s lists of priorities when I’m depending on them for something to get move mine forward.  I’ve not had great luck with product tech support lately.  One company took about 2 months to provide instructions for migrating their product from the Linux version to Windows.  Not that I’m a big fan of moving things to Windows, but when I’ve made it clear to them that the Linux hardware we’re running is on its last legs and requires daily defibrillation, you’d think they could turn something like that around faster.

On the home front, Warren has certainly changed noticeably lately.  He’s interacting a lot more with his environment and enjoys grabbing things hanging above him when he’s on his play mat.  He’s also much happier (unless of course his drawers are damp/dirty, in which case he gets very grumpy … not that I blame him).  Laura is definitely a girl … and a bit of a girly girl at that.  Namely, she doesn’t like getting dirty.  She’s also taken to putting diapers on her stuffed animals and changing them.  I’m sure part of it is imitating what she sees mommy and daddy doing, but I can’t help but think that it’s the whole natural tendency to nurture kicking in as well.  Oh yes, and in the past few days she’s started cuddling things because they’re “sad”.  Tonight in the bathtub it was the plastic cups that we use to rinse her hair with.  Quite amusing to say the least.  Liz is doing very well.  She’s an awesome wife and mother … I can’t say that enough of course.  I do wish she had more friends in the area to get together with so she could relax more.  She’s going to coffee with friends from church on a fairly regular basis so that’s helping I think.

This past weekend we went and visited my great aunt Rosie.  She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and isn’t expected to be with us much longer.  She’s currently in a nursing home.  I forgot how much of a downer those places can be.  This one seemed particularly that way as it was very utilitarian/institutional?  Not that I’ve been in a lot, because I haven’t.  But it definitely doesn’t have a feeling of a “home” … it kinda reminded me of a school or a prison.  Definitely not much happiness there (though I imagine it’s very hard to find in a place like that).  Anyway, I’m glad we went to visit.  She may or may not remember the kids.  The kids certainly won’t remember her.  But no regrets.

Two weeks ago we visited friends in Appleton in their new house.  It was nice to see them again.  They seem happy in their new place and finally married.  Yay!  It was a bit hard to plan things around kids and delivery of appliances (no thanks to delivery guys who didn’t call ahead of time).  I think our next visit will be a little easier to deal with now that we have an idea how we can situate the little ones.

Three weeks ago we had a photo session with my aunt Michelle.  She enjoys doing professional-grade photography as a hobby, not that she’ll necessarily admit she’s professional grade.  The photos turned out really nice.  I see some of them printed and framed in our future. 

Well, I best get to bed … I made the mistake of putting Warren in his bed rather than a chair to snooze earlier tonight … and he’s still out.  This means a middle-of-the-night feeding on my part is very likely.  On the plus side, tomorrow’s the last day of work for me this week (vacation + mandatory furlough day).  Hopefully I’ll be a little better about posting again… we shall see I guess.

I don’t remember much of this morning.  It was a bit of a blur.  Perhaps that’s a good thing.  I know I got the FreeBSD updates installed on my server but other than that don’t remember much.  This afternoon was good.  Warren slept okay and Laura slept great (though I think she would have liked to have slept longer).  I got the oil changed in the snowblower.  It was in dire need of it, since it hadn’t been changed in the 2 years we’ve had it and I have no idea when the previous owner had last changed it.  It was black.  Then I managed to get it started.  Apparently it doesn’t matter too much what the weather is like … if it hasn’t been started in several months it’s a pain in the rear to start.  I got a bit of a workout doing that.  It seems to run pretty reasonably.  Not “like new” certainly, but the price was right (free from previous owner + $25 to get carb cleaned  at local small engine shop).  After that we got Laura up and went on a shopping run to Hudson to get groceries and take care of some other needs.

I did a little bit of research this morning on domain hosting.  It’s frustrating because most of the reviews information out there that I could find pertains to web hosting and doesn’t talk much at all about email, which for me is just as important if not more important.  So, that research will probably continue as time allows.  It’s not urgent.

Tonight Liz let me relax and catch up on emailing some friends that I haven’t heard from in a while.  I still have at least one more to do, but it’s getting late and tomorrow is going to be a full day (Warren is getting baptized!!).

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted.  I’ve been getting a little overwhelmed and the dam burst yesterday morning.  It felt good to get some things that had been bothering me out into the open.  Liz and I are now much better.  We’re going to do a minimum of one night out per month for the two of us.  We haven’t scheduled next month yet, but December is set.  We’re going to go see Bryan Adams at the State Theatre in Minneapolis.  It should be good.  I’ve never been to an acoustic performance nor have I been to one of his concerts.  In fact, it was only a few nights ago that I found an acoustic performance of his out on YouTube.  We’re really looking forward to it.  We determined that we hadn’t been out to “a show” since before Laura was born, when we went to see RENT.  We also decided that Liz is going to get at least one day a month to herself without having to worry about the kids.

Work has been kinda topsy-turvy.  Successes.  Frustrations.  Meetings.  More meetings.  Did I mention meetings?  I think I did.  I tried working from home on Wednesday with mixed results.  It appears that if I am going to do that, I need to hide myself down in the basement otherwise Laura expects more attention.  Wednesday was not a good day for Liz to put it mildly.  Anyway … work has been kinda topsy turvy.  I’ve got a few projects “on the stove” … campus web cms project … mailing list server … fighting back phishing attempts … active directory project.  Two of those hit a wall this afternoon, at which point I decided the Lord was telling me it was time to go home.  Thankfully my boss agreed.  Yesterday actually ended on a positive note though since I hacked a webmail plugin to make it work the way we need it to.  I just need to remember to document what I did as well as update the documentation on what plugins we’re using (since I noticed that was out-of-date).

This coming week I hope to get more done (though I wish I was spending less time in meetings).  I should be able to make some headway on both of the “roadblocks” that I encountered this afternoon.  I’m also going to look into doing a major software update on our spam and virus filtering servers.  Speaking of email … a coworker and I buckled down and finally knocked out disabling the horribly out-of-date software on two of our smtp servers this week (since it is not needed with previously mentioned filtering servers in place).  Server load went from 50-80% cpu most of the day down to an average of around 1 or 2% cpu … with “spikes” to 10%.  I joked with one of my coworkers that if she heard snoring coming from the server room, it was just the mail servers.

On the home front, we got the lawn mowed for the last time this season last weekend.  Liz actually did most of it after I made a pass around the outside and mowed some of the more challenging parts (e.g. the ditch).  After she finished mowing I did a thorough cleaning of the deck, including taking it off.  I did a little re-arranging and got the snowblower pulled out.  I think one of tomorrow’s projects is going to be finally changing the oil in that little beastie, since it’s not been changed since before I got it from its previous owner and I know it *really* needs it.  My parents are hopefully bringing down some fenceposts this weekend so hopefully I’ll be able to put up a snow fence this year so that the lower part of the driveway doesn’t drift so badly.  This is particularly important since Natasha (our Impreza) doesn’t have quite the ground clearance that Nell (the Outback) has … and take a guess which one I’m driving to work.

I get to see family again this weekend.  Warren is being baptized on Sunday.  It should be a good time.  I have to help serve Communion but thankfully the people who are helping assist are good with cleanup afterwords.  We’re going out to eat afterwords since serving a meal at our house for 12 people makes things kinda nuts.  Good times will be had though.

p.s. for those who wonder about the name of my journal … it’s intended to be a geeky reference.

It’s really nice to be home again.  I know a fair number of people are grumpy about the snow we got but I’m not sure they had the opportunity to get out and appreciate a combination of beauty that I haven’t seen in quite some time, namely fresh snow combined with awesome fall colors.  I’m not certain that we drove through a peak color band but around Eau Claire and Menomonie the leaves were looking great and the snow combined to make it spectacular.  I wish we had been able to capture it on camera but will just have to suffice with our memory.

On another note, I find it interesting how many people forget that the Bible they are reading is a translation and is therefore what they are reading may not be what was intended.  I think many discount the role that “context” plays in religion but when you consider that what we read is an imperfect translation, I think context becomes very important.  As anybody who’s learned a foreign language can attest, some words have different meanings depending on what surrounds them, and sometimes small changes can have big consequences.  I don’t think it helps that there are so many individuals who contributed and may have nuances in writing style (regardless of the fact that they were inspired by the same source).  Saying the Bible is without error is one thing.  Saying that what we’re reading as the Bible is without error is another.  Not that I necessarily abide by either stance mind you.

I hadn’t planned on posting tonight but realized I needed to drink something this evening (forgot to have a beverage with dinner) and thought I’d dump some thoughts while I was at it.  Thoughts and prayers for Wren and her family… they need them.

One weekend … two weddings … one family get-together … good times all-around.  The possible exception would be the drive down to the in-laws.  Lesson learned … kinda like Gremlins … don’t keep child up on car trip past 8pm or so.  Laura finally fell asleep between 9:30 and 10… we got to DeForest around 11:30.  Guess who got a second wind and didn’t want to go to bed.  Eww.

Friday we drove up to Green Bay for Liz & Corey’s wedding.  It was very good.  The ceremony was very relaxed.  The reception of course was a blast.  They really like to have fun.  There was an awkward moment when I ended up between the bride and the groom in a dancing train, but it was all good.  Liz and I had a really good time and were sad when we had to leave to drive back to the in-laws.

Saturday we drove up to Eau Claire for Mindy & Nate’s wedding.  It was a nice ceremony, officiated by Mindy’s brother Karl.  I think that’s the second wedding I’ve been that an immediate family member has officiated.  It added an extra bit of specialness.  The reception was good but we were kinda drained from Friday.  Note to self … one wedding per weekend.  Some extra stress was added by the fact that the directions to the wedding left a little to be desired.  Even Gabby the Garmin was confused (we borrowed Scott & Joni’s GPS).

Today is a family day.  My brother-in-law John is home for 2 weeks R&R from Kuwait.  So we’re watching the Rams fall over for the Vikings and having a good visit.  John is enjoying cuddles with Warren.  Nephew Jonah is out playing in the leaves.

Today wasn’t a bad day.  I spent most of the day at work trying to clean up some issues with mailing lists.  It took quite a while to figure out that it was a different manifestation of a software bug I already knew about.  Unfortunately recovery isn’t particularly straight-forward.

This morning I dropped the Outback off to get its 60,000 mile service checkup done.  They finished it this afternoon and it ended up being a fair amount more than we were hoping but I’ve learned preventive maintenance is usually a pretty good idea.  I checked into new tires after work but need to do a little more shopping around.  We’re probably going to “downgrade” to H-rated tires from the V-rated ones we currently have.  We did the same thing on the Impreza the last time we replaced tires on her and it wasn’t a bad choice (though I can definitely tell the difference).

I’m hoping for a good night tonight.  While the feeding last night went pretty well, I had trouble falling asleep afterwords and ended up being a bit of a space case this morning.  Example 1: stood at gas pump for 2 minutes before realizing I forgot to select fuel grade (so it wasn’t filling the tank at all).  Example 2: got to my office and tried using my mouse before I had taken my laptop out of its bag and hooked it up to said laptop.

Tonight Liz and I had a meeting/chat with our pastor at church to discuss the impact of the national church’s gay/lesbian clergy vote, since it seemed the initial reaction of our congregation was not exactly “welcoming.”  I honestly don’t have a problem with the decision itself, though it’s pretty clear the process that lead up to it could use a lot of work to minimize hard feelings.  Earlier it felt like our congregation was ready to “brandish pitchforks,” much to our dismay.  Thankfully, we’re not the only members of our congregation who feel the need to be welcoming, regardless of orientation.  I think time to digest what the meaning of it all is will help.

It was a good weekend.  Went to a birthday party for my nephew on Saturday, at which a good time was had by all.  Visited with family and enjoyed ourselves.  Laura got a short nap afterwords while I helped wrestle a cow out from under a divider rail.  Made the trip home without incident though I’m glad it’s not a long trip.  I’m not looking forward to the drive to the in-laws Thursday night since we know Laura won’t sleep and little boy is likely to want to stop at least once.

This week at work is looking to be pretty quiet.  Hopefully I can keep up the momentum I left with on Friday.  It’s a short due to weddings this coming weekend.  I need to try and get the Outback in for its 60K service this week and if we’re really lucky maybe some new tires too?  We shall see I guess.

We got a good night’s sleep last night.  We were in bed at 9 and the little boy didn’t wake up until 3am!  Plus, he let us sleep until 7!!!  W00t!  Anyway, we’re getting a later start tonight but hopefully we have another good night.  Liz and I could both use another one.

Yay!  I made it to the end of the week.  Now to see if I survive the weekend.  We have a birthday party on Saturday that it’s looking like the weather won’t be nice for (which is a bummer).  Sunday looks to be pretty quiet.  Maybe I’ll actually be able to nap!!!  (*fingers crossed*).

Today was a pretty productive day at work.  I managed to get ColdFusion 8 up and running on IIS 7 … little thanks to Adobe.  How brain-ful is it that in order to install software updates, you need to enable a feature they recommend disabling on production systems!?

Another thing I need to work on this weekend is coming up with a recommendation for a video system at church.  I’m still waffling between the all-in-one remote pan-tilt-zoom camera systems or going with something more modular.

to the driver in the green Pontiac Grand Prix that passed me as I was on my way home this evening… a couple of driving tips:

1) when the solid yellow is on your side of the road, you really shouldn’t pass.  if it’s dashed on the other side, that’s for oncoming drivers.

2) passing while approaching a curve in the road?  generally a bad idea

3) the highway number does not equal the speed limit (otherwise you’d be in trouble on US Hwy 12).  Even at that interpretation I think you were being generous with the accelerator given that you were more than 1/2 a mile ahead of me after 3-4 minutes.

I hope you got pulled over.  Driving that way is unsafe.

… trying to be more regular about posting.  :D  I’ve corrected the comments form issue.  I like the way this theme looks, but I’m not a big fan of how it handles fonts (default is serif fonts in very small sizes … I think the designer must have 40/20 vision or something like that).  Anyway, I’m sure it will continue to be tweaked.

I pulled the feed out of facebook this evening because I’m not sure I’m comfortable with it sucking in all my posts and keeping them.  Not that I want to hide them from my facebook friends … I’d just far rather Facebook didn’t suck the content in for its own.

Two days of work done this week already.  It’s flying by.  Monday started out like a “Monday” … and not in a good way.  A couple of little crises to deal with at work but nothing that couldn’t be handled.  Today was a day full of meetings.  I basically spent 5 hrs in meetings today.  Thankfully my day started out really productive so it wasn’t a loss.  Tomorrow I don’t have a lot going on so hopefully will be able to get more documentation done for our Active Directory project as well as make some progress on building our web sandbox.

On the home front, I had hoped to do some updates on the church website but the Internet connection was being ornery, so I punted that for the evening.  I think I need to get someone out here to figure out if it’s a cable or our connection or what.  It’s been pretty flakey since mid-August.  They (BTI) have replaced some equipment on their end but it still flakes out a little now and then.  Tomorrow I need to call up the hosting company for the church website and talk down the price.  We’re currently paying about $30/month for hosting … but new people can sign up for a better plan for $8.95/month.  Saving the church money would be good.  Speaking of church, I’m also researching video recording equipment for church services.  I keep waffling back and forth about what route to go though.

I decided today that it has really been too long since I’ve gotten together with Rich.  We need to catch up on what’s going on in our lives and “talk shop”.  I also need to get him over to the house to see if he can help me out with my FreeBSD booting problem … it boots, but it needs some geeky assistance to do so since I did some hard drive swapping.