cute girls

The past few weeks or so my girls have been doubly cute. I don't know if it's just that I've been able to spend a little more time with them or that they have been practicing cuteness. Kristy puts their hair up in pony tails on the top of their heads - so cute. Yesterday I took Julie to Wal-mart and on our way there she spontaneously started repeating that she loved me and mommy. I was walking into Wal-mart with her saying, "I love Daddy" over and over. I'm sure these days will pass and I'll hear just the opposite as we leave Wal-mart some day...
Anyway, the primary reason for going was to pick up some outside Christmas lights! I'll put them up today. It has been really nice to have some snow on the ground here in Indy!

voting rights

I have a friend who said that they wish we could go back to only allowing land owners the right to vote. That really got me to wondering. The idea makes sense on the hand that those who own land are also those who are going to be held accountable for what is voted into law. They would at the very least be interested in maintaining the piece of America they own. It was an interesting thought, I'm not sure if it's really justified though. What if you want to rent but still have an opinion on liberties that have nothing to do with land ownership? At what point does it make sense to say you can vote on some issues but not others?

At the same time I don't agree with Holder's (Obama's Attorney General pick) idea to allow convicted felons to vote. The idea behind not allowing convicted felons to vote seems pretty clear to me. They lack good decision making abilities. At the very least I think a felon should loose voting rights for a minimum of 20 years or so, possibly depending on the severity of the law they broke. Maybe it should extend to State laws as well. Perhaps a good rule of thumb would be to say if they had 2 years in prison they lose their voting rights for 4 years, 8 years of prison = 16 years w/out voting.

I love my job

There are times in my job that get so stressful I want to quit. The only thing that gets me through is remembering that I've been through rough times in the past and they don't last forever. This past week has been one of those weeks. The nice part is that now that it is over, I feel very happy about the work I've done and the people I work with. I have learned a lot about Cisco equipment the past few weeks from all the configuring I've done, it's been like a crash course, better than the training for CCNA. Today was especially fun, I configured a router, a firewall and a switch. I also updated DNS both dynamically and statically. The only thing I didn't do was configure or fix a Linux issue. But I did find the solution to a Windows problem plaguing our Systems Admin today! I guess that would be fitting seeing how Linux is soo stable. Anyway I thought I would blog about how much I love my job since Kristy is tired of hearing me. One of my favorite things about this week was Cisco support. Cisco has amazing support. You can request help via the internet and get a call a few minutes later (not long at all) from a technician that is trained in the technology you are having issues with. They will request a Webex session with you basically a connection to your PC to work on the problem with you while you are on the phone with them. You can see everything they do. I'll admit other vendors use Webex or similar products but Cisco's equipment is so well put together that their support specialists don't have to struggle very much to get you what you need. Then if you need replacement parts they have them shipped within a few hours! I've worked with other vendors and I have to say that Cisco is great, but I also have to admit I haven't had to call them very much either, I guess that's why they have time to help me so readily. The other nice thing about my job is that my manager is willing to pay for the support. Some managers refuse to pay for the support they need for the products they use leaving their technicians flailing on their own when they need help. Now I'm wondering what kind of support Red Hat has. I haven't had to call them yet.

eggnog

I think eggnog should be sold year round!

gayness

So my church is vehemently against gay marriage. I'll start out by saying I don't disagree with the church and that I will support them. But why? There must be a good reason that we care who is allowed to marry. If I know that marriage is only valid between a man and woman, why should I care so much about what other people do? Will passing a law actually prevent people from being gay or doing gay things? Is it just a small step down a slippery slope, or is it a really big one? Are the reasons more about taxes? What rights do married people have that gay people shouldn't have? I wasn't aware that I had any more rights as a married person than a single person. If there were a proposition to abolish the Catholic church would we be encouraged to support that as well?

The nameless kid from Polar Express was from Grand Rapids Michigan

It's been a while since I last wrote. Does anyone miss me? I've been busy with work, it's been fun though, I've been getting some really good experience. This week I've started working overtime and since I don't get paid for it, it just means long hours. It looks pretty certain that I'll be working overtime again before the week is over. Anyway I'm excited for the Holidays, I hope I get to enjoy them. I hope we get some snow! I love the Polar Express movie. I want to move to Grand Rapids Michigan and live in a house with lots of decorated wood. And a basement! But I really like my job so maybe they will open a new center there. I would want to live in the outskirts of the city so I could have lots of trees and a dog. And I want to put sleigh bells in my truck bed!

demographics

Here is a really cool site that will let you mess with demographics to see who would win the election.

more reasons for Obama

Many of you are observant and correct in noting that Ron Paul is very different from Obama. The angle I'm taking is simply one of influence, it's not between Ron Paul and Obama and McCain. At the moment the election is between McCain and Obama. If you have listened to the debates, you know McCain has a very weak understanding of the economy, he's admitted it. I was laughing at McCain and making fun of him before he even emerged from the primaries. His only strength seems to be experience in the military.
Foreign relations:
Obama wants to end the war (just like Paul), he also believes in communication between countries. Keep you friends close and you enemies even closer. - How can you do that without talking??? McCain will not talk to some countries unless they meet some criteria. Obama thinks it's a good idea to talk, be a diplomat....ya know stuff that is on his job description.
Taxes:
Don't be fooled, they both want to spend our money, at the moment we are in a war that is spending a lot of money. McCain will continue the war. Obama will end the war and attempt spending lots of money on health care. Actually both will attempt spending lots of money on health care. I think Obama's plan is a bit more up front with where the costs are coming from. Obama wants to tax those that make more than $250k a year. Well, that's fine with me too. Over all, I think less taxes are best, but if you've got to tax someone, why not tax those that can bear the burden? Many argue that they are the ones that create jobs and spend all the money. Whatever! There are plenty of people that create their own jobs without making that kind of money. If someone spends 50 times what I do on a regular basis, there is something wrong with them, it's not normal even if the money is available.
Abortion:
I totally disagree with Obama on this. I hate abortion very much. McCain only has a position on this issue, in which he is against abortion. Bush made abortion a big item in his campaign...8 years ago! What happened? Abortion is legal, I think that sucks, it blows! But if I vote for McCain, will that make abortion illegal? No, it won't. McCain will most likely never bring it up, the decision to make it legal has passed twice now, I think, meaning that it doesn't really stand a chance a 3rd time. So let's vote for a candidate completely based on an issue that the candidate is not going to do anything about - that is irresponsible.
Partial birth abortion:
Yes, Obama is wrong on this, but I think it was made illegal pretty solidly at 95%, I doubt that it would pass given the highly unlikely chance that Obama had a second chance at it.
Terrorism:
Come on, who thinks Obama is going to be a terrorist because he talked to a person convicted of terrorism? Ridiculous, only pulled out of the GOP's back pocket when they saw defeat coming.
In General:
I see that the McCain campaign is not very well organized and the man is painful to listen too. He is also known for having a temper. Obama is running an amazing campain, many recognize that it's very disciplined, I think his strong leadership abilities were proven with him beating Clinton - which is another good reason to vote for him! As for the majority of democrats in the congress and the senate, maybe we should vote for Republican congressmen and senators, McCain is not the responsible answer.

Ward Clerk

This morning I was released as Ward Clerk! I have been performing as Ward Clerk for nearly 2 years. It has been fun, challenging and I would do it again. At the moment I have no calling other than home teacher, which I will be doing for a couple of hours tonight. I feel that it is only a matter of a few weeks before I'm called to teach a primary class. Although I would love to serve in the Elders Quorum. But the Quorum is fairly new so I'm pretty sure I'll be preparing lessons for little ones soon. The good thing about teaching in primary is that I won't be going to any auxiliary meetings. The downside is that I'll be getting the kids to church by myself every other Sunday so that Kristy can start going to the meeting she has been missing out on.

Obama

I can't figure out how to change the background so I apologize for straining your eyes.
The more I listen to the presidential debates, the more I'm convinced I should vote for Obama. I am not a fan of all I hear about him. But the main issues I see a difference on is economics. Obama seems seriously interested in helping the American economy and I haven't really heard anyone come up with a good argument against that. McCain isn't bias against the wealthy...just like Bush. Also Bush has spent 4 of the 10 trillion of our national debt. What makes me think that McCain is going to change when he votes the same as Bush 90+ % of the time?
For this reason I endorse Obama. I hope for a country that can be financially responsible in the near future, I'm through with "conservative republicans" that spend money like it was mine and not ours.

Globe Trotters

Well, our travels are over for a while. We are home. Thank you Grandma Haynie, for taking good care of the girls while Matt and I flew off to California!

San Francisco

The training is going well too!

bachelor

You would think with Kristy away for the weekend that I would have had time before now to write on the blog. Not really! I ate with some friends Friday and then went to the Purdue football game yesterday. Then today I've been busy with meetings and home teaching until now and it's almost time for bed. Kristy should be home in the morning though, which means she'll be home around the same time I get home from work tomorrow. I think she is crazy for having left because we just got back from Chicago and next week we'll be in San Francisco and the week after that we'll be in Chicago again! I thought it would be nice to be home for a little while (albeit the game was in Lafayette). Anyway, it seems like everyone is doing a lot of traveling recently. Everyone is restless.
So, when I was in Chicago I was learning about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and a few days ago I wiped the hard drive on my new laptop to put my trial version of RHEL on it. For the most part it works, the GUI doesn't work, which may end up being a good thing since most of my work is supposed to be done in command line anyway. But it means a lot of research to understand how to run some commands to be able to install other operating systems without having to burn any CD's or DVD's.

What would the computer be without the internet?

Many people give credit to Bill Gates for the end device called the computer. But I don't think it would be nearly as useful without the network nearly all of them connect to. Without the network, there would be no email, no blogs, no online banking, etc. On the other hand what would the internet be without Microsoft? Well we had UNIX before we had Windows. In fact we still have UNIX, but I'll concede Windows had a huge marketing affect on the whole scene. I think Bill sped up the development of both the UNIX/Linux OS's as well as the dependence on the internet. But if he hadn't done it, it would have come sooner or later. Thanks anyway Mr. Gates!

I'm not dead yet

I've been really busy. I built a bunk bed last weekend. Then this weekend I went to the Cheesecake factory, the Childrens Museum and replaced the starter in the Corolla. That's the 3rd starter I've replaced in my life, it was also the most difficult. They really had to get creative with how to attach this part in such a cramped configuration. I had to use a mirror just to see if I had the socket over the head of one of the bolts. By 1:30 AM Sunday morning my back and legs were very sore, but the job was done. Yeah! Now that it's done, it seems like the engine still struggles a little to turn over... and the starter passed the test at Auto Zone, but the guy said it was still pretty weak and should probably be replaced anyway. So maybe the problem was with the 6 year old battery or the alternator. I just want the problem resolved before we go to Chicago later this month.

running

Yesterday I was running on a treadmill in front of a mirror. A very unique experience for me - I realized that I run funny. It looks like I'm dragging my legs! And I step on my right foot with it turned out. So weird, I can even see my legs using different muscles for each leg because I'm so not symmetrical. By now you should have a picture of a hunchback limping in front of a mirror, but I guess it's not that bad, although it looks really weird to me. I tried to make myself run normal, but I couldn't. I think the biggest issue I have is that it looks like I'm running on a rope by swinging my feet around each other at every pass. It looks like I'm a lazy runner. Maybe one of my expert running sisters have some tips for me.

email

I've been amazed at work as I realize how often the correct response is no response at all!

Bananas

Isn't it odd that if you want to recover from bruising that bananas are helpful because of their potassium and yet bananas bruise so easily?

update

I've been busy and tired. These things usually keep me from blogging. It has also been a big relief to not have to maintain the blog website either - I feel less obligated to read every single post and comment, besides I think there are more now then ever. At the moment I'm really excited about the work I'm doing at Lockheed Martin. I'm trying to implement proxy servers and I'm looking at all my options. I'm also looking forward to the future of cell phones. I think they have a bright future, it looks as if soon they will be able to run a variety of operating systems. Meaning if you get your new blackberry and aren't happy with a java based system, you could just install a fresh version of Linux that has everything you ever wanted with all the commands you are already familiar with...if you are already familiar with them.

date night yoga

Yesterday I went with Kristy to a yoga studio, I would have a picture but I couldn't find one that really expressed what it was like. Me & Kristy were the only students so that part was a little weird. It actually ended up being a nice workout. It was a good date activity too. Mostly I was influenced by the end. At the end the instructor was saying that she was all of these wonderful things - as if it was what we were supposed to be thinking of ourselves. One of the things she said was that she was kind. It struck me, I guess because I don't think of myself as kind. I certainly don't think it's a thing someone else would think of calling me. So I thought I should probably do more things to be kind. I think I'd rather do more yoga than think of ways I can spend my time being kind...

beach towels

Does anyone remember the beach towels we had as kids? I only remember two at the moment but I'm sure there were five. One had a cowboy on a horse in the sun and the horse was on it's hind feet, overall the color was yellow and orange and brown I think. The other towel was of a million dollar bill..or something like that. Looks like I'm in for a road trip, I wonder how many of these towel owners I'll end up seeing.

hair cut

Maybe I should get a haircut. With my beard, I'm starting to look like this guy.

my official title

My official title at work is: Computer Opns Spt Anlst Sr.
Which i think means Computer Operations Specialist Analyst Senior, pretty descriptive huh? My previous title was Mult Fnc Info Sys Anlst. The title I covet is Network Engineer Sr Stf, the title I give my self is Network/Unix Admin because it describes what I actually do...sometimes. If it were to describe what I actually do it would be more like Witness/Genesys/Nortel/Cisco/Linux/Unix/Windows/Network/Phone Administrator and Ward Clerk/Nursery worker and sorry excuse for a father/lawn mower/trash taker outer and general mr.fixit.

sick?

I don't know if I've been sick, but I've been tired. My ear is draining goop everyday (I think my tube came out) - I have an appointment next week for that. I've maintained a nice productive cough throughout the whole ordeal. Oh yeah, my back hurts too :(

when the Lord comes what will suddenly become obsolete

Money? Guns? Government agencies? Certain magazines? Tobacco, coffee & alcohol factories? I hope that he can come up with some really cool energy sources to put oil and nuclear power to rest or at least provide a solution to nuclear waste. I'm pretty sure I would still be employable as a network engineer. I think Ron Paul would be satisfied with the changes in government.

rebate scam

We got our rebate check today, but it was $42 short! What's up with that? We were supposed to get $1800. Uncle Sam loves me less than the others. I could have enjoyed $42 worth of eating out, or a weeks worth of gas, or a new outfit, or I could have given it to YOU!!

Signs of the times?

With the earthquake in China, one has to wonder if the Lord is coming soon. But then with Clinton losing her lead in election, we might still have a few more years.

Brain Freeze

Do you ever feel like your brain is frozen? Today I feel like thoughts will touch my brain and slide off. I have called Matt on his cell phone before, but today I couldn't find where I have written it down and my frozen brain hasn't had a thawed out day since he got the contraption in which I could memorize it. I used to be good at memorizing things...maybe I should make a song to remember it, I can remember songs. So here's me today frustrated with my frozen head and melting thoughts.

blogs that begat blogs

I've been busy so I haven't noticed all the blogging activity going on. I admit I don't think I will be able to keep up with it all as well as I once did. But then it would be much easier if everyone used RSS. Even then there is a lot to read. I miss my old blog and still post there on occasion cause it's easier, but oh well. Work has been really picking up with some due dates looming in the near future. And church hasn't been handing out any breaks either. There is an opportunity to show our house to a guy that is trying to move nearby, our house fits the description, but I'm not convinced I want to move yet. I could always get a house closer to work and that would save gas...

passwords

I was wondering if I could justify reusing passwords that I know. I just recalled 30 different password from memory that are all valid/in use passwords for things from bank accounts to computer accounts to building codes, I don't know how that rates for the average person, but I think I can justify reusing a few passwords.

123

A couple of days ago we were eating dinner and Amber requested some mayonnaise. Waiting impatiently she said, "One..Two..Three". Me & Kristy were quite shocked, but what can you do?

rebate scam

Everyone else got their rebate check this week, but we didn't get one. Here is the triangle scheme they are trying to get away with.

oow

Last night I had a hard time sleeping because my stomach hurt like I needed to pee. So I got up to use the bathroom a lot. Same thing all day today. After talking to my mother in law Annette, it sounds like I might have appendicitis. Isn't that cool? I could die! But from my experience as me, my body tends to be pretty resilient so I'm not really worried. I'll wait another day or so to see if it goes away on it's own. Although at this rate, I could just end up in the hospital all weekend, that would suck. Especially since I haven't figured out how to use ssh on the blackberry! If I had, at least I could play with it while in the hospital.

Amber singing

I recorded Amber singing the ABC's with an added verse at the end. It's cute!

What did you learn in your 29th year?

Today Kristy called me up at work, complaining that the dryer didn't work. She said she flipped the breaker switch back and forth and that didn't fix it. I asked her if the light came on, it did. I asked her if she pushed all the buttons, she did. I came home and moved the dial to one of the drying settings and pushed the button and it started right up. She came running in and asked what I did and I told her I just pushed the button. "Which button?" she asked. I pointed to the one labeled, "Push to start".

laptop review (Lenovo T61p)

My new laptop is nice and I like it, compared to the old one, it has twice the RAM, 4 times the CPU speed (fast enough to watch CNN videos in firefox!), 4 times the hard disk space and the hard disk itself is faster too. One of my favorite features is the finger print reader, when I brush my finger across it, it logs me in without having to enter my username or password! The resolution is very sharp and small, but if I change the resolution everything looks blury :( It has lots of connectors, USB on both sides, a modem, a network card, a normal video connector, cool pcmcia slot card cover like a VCR cover - smart! Plus it has an SD card reader, which reads the new card I just got for my blackberry!

My biggest complain is the power. The docking station didn't come with it's own power cable. The battery sticks out and it's not even the extra big battery, it's the normal one, not only that but it wiggles, it doesn't sit tight in the laptop. I disabled hibernate because it takes too long to store everything to disk dispite having 1GB of turbo cache for the hard drive, but it hibernates anyway causing me to have to login with my username & password - thanks encryption anywhere! Standby is the ultimate feature I liked on my old laptop, I would hit the power key and it would go into standby using 1% of the battery per day. This laptop requires me to hold the power button down for 6 seconds to go into standby...Yes, I think a hard power off is 8 seconds! I did this yesterday and after I got it home I noticed the bag was really hot, the battery had completely drained itself probably spinning the hard drive, but WHY?!?! It was supposed to be in standby! Anyway, after coming out of standby the wireless connection is always broken. No, not disconnected, broken. My old laptop would have to reconnect, but it would work. This one comes out of standby and tells me that there is limited to no connection until I click "repair connection" which disables and re-enables the wireless network card EVERY time! - so annoying!

I'm sure some of these problems will work themselves out after I've had it for a while, but I think there are probably a bunch of other people with the same complaints.

Tax Rebate

$1,200 per couple and $300 for every child...Grandma & Grandpa are about to get rich!!

Black Berry Review

I took it upon myself to ferret out all the things I liked and want in the Black Berry 8830. Although since I haven't had it for even a week yet, there are bound to be more things listed in the comments to come.

Things I like:

The battery life seems pretty descent and can be charge via USB or a power cord.
The display is bright enough to see in the sunlight! And it's fairly easy to set the lighting for optimum battery usage.

I can leave programs running and switch to another program, allowing me to listen to scriptures while I read them at the same time, or just come back where I left off.

Email is very very fast. I read the phrase "email push", it must be a way of getting email sent out instead of having it requested some how, it's very nice, I really like that feature. I'm beginning to wonder what the USB cable is for, if I can get power from the wall.

The web speed is ok, not stellar, but it's a phone right?

Media player, it reminds me a little of Windows Media Player, it uses a black background and seems to just work.

The expandable memory, Micro SD, is very affordable at $10 for 2GB!

There are several "themes" available, I hope I can find one that uses a black background so it's easier on my eyes and battery.

It seems pretty rugged, I dropped it once already.

Things I want:

I happened to get the 8830 world edition (vs 8820), so I have every imaginable outlet converter in place of a normal US plug that is folds into itself. Also the 8820 includes the ability to connect via Wi-fi which would have been nice, as it is I'm always restricted by the carrier's idea of what is too large of a file (which seems to be around 2MB).

The trackball is extremely bright, which is fun for the first day, but if you ever have to use this device in dim light or the dark it begins to relentlessly burn a whole in your retina. There is NO way to turn the trackball off (or even down) without destroying the light. Apparently some other Black Berry models gave you some choice, but that feature must have been too confusing for the masses.

Navigation seems to be exclusively done by the trackball, it's like someone took away my tab & function keys in place of a mouse. Today I found that I could "page down" by using the space bar, but I'm still looking for a "page up" key.

The number keys are a little small for a phone. I know I have to give somewhere for the convenience of a full qwerty board...At least it can tell when you want to dial a number.

OK, I have a GPS integrated in this little gem. Lets compare GPS to your windshield wipers. Say you bought a car from a gas staion. You own the entire car and pay for gas. However the gas station but a lock on your wipers so that you couldn't use them unless you paid them $10 a month...But if you broke off the lock, they are yours to use, it's your car right? Don't let them fool you into thinking that there is more to it than this. The government pays my company to provide GPS service to the world free of charge! So why are cell phone companies trying to resell this as if it were their own service, it's annoying.

Only the speaker phone seems to get enough amplitude. If I try to raise the volume for a song I've downloaded, it's not very loud, even through the headset. I also wish I had a headphone jack.

I have found a few programs for SSH, but I haven't found one for VPN yet, I think it would be awesome, if I could do some actual work from this using a vpn/ssh connection! It would even be cool if I still had to use my RSA tokens, I would feel like a secret agent.

Matt's Predictions

I predict that in the near future Iran will make headway in alternative fuel development and realize the Wests dependence on energy which in turn will diffuse any preexisting tensions. After the housing market crash runs it's course banks and individuals will learn from the past by being more reasonable about the loans they make and accept. America will become the worlds examples in how to live within our means and working hard. United Nations will be dissolved in 20 years because sovereign countries will learn diplomacy on their own. Mexico will be the hot spot for a college education that will draw students from all over the world, parents will pay premium tuition because of the conservative and safe environment there. China will have colonies on the Moon and Mars, they will spread spiritual messages throughout the Universe. Of course this is all after Ron Paul is elected President.

I got stuff

I got a blackberry from work a few days ago and yesterday my boss ordered me a new laptop! I decided to get a T61p IBM (15.4" monitor, 2.5Ghz processor, 2GB RAM, 1GB turbo cache for HD, 72000Rpm 100GB Hard drive), I got it with a stand and KVM so it should be pretty cool when it comes in. I will have to keep my door closed all the time to keep people from getting more jealous than they already are. If I can get my blackberry to use ssh & vpn, I will be tempted to work from a park everyday.

Self healing truck

I was driving around this week and my check engine light went out! It came back on briefly but then it has stayed off since! How cool is that?

Where the bit bucket ends.

I think that this is a great idea. In my classes at Purdue a discarded piece of information was said to be send to the "bit bucket", one student just shy of a full deck of cards, asked if the bit bucket ever gets too full. The professor said that's why it's important to empty the bucket often. But it got me thinking for a second about what happened to the energy that is used to represent bits after they are received, this article has a solution!

I'm on my way

Today I calculated that I pay off debt at a rate of about $4,500 a year. It's hard to say how long it will take me to pay off the remaining $93,000 I owe because the ratio of interest vs debt in my repayment changes so it could mean that next year I can pay $5,000 and the following year $5,500. But I think that it's safe to say I could be debt free by the time I'm 50. But then I'll be so old I won't be physically able to do anything fun, so I'll die but leave the world without a deficit.

Kristy is 29

Happy Birthday honey! Would you like a big black dog? It would be so cute in our backyard.

More Easter fun

Drumming at Uncle Nick's new place! :) Fun!!!
Julie and Nana.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. Nana and Florence came to church with us. It was so nice. Amber loved having Nana come to primary during the second hour and I enjoyed sitting with Nana and Florence in Relief Society.
Amber and Julie at church.
Amber and her puppy.
Julie sharing her treat...want a lick?

Matt's Birthday

Matt's chocolate eruption cheesecake with tool decorations by my mom.

The birthday boy with his cheesecake truffles.

Missing Grandma Haynie

While Gabe & Laura were busy in Colorado, we got spoiled having Grandma around in January. We had so much fun.

Dragging

Today was one of those days that I just couldn't get up. Matt was trying...tickling my toes, but I was wiped out. Yesterday I got up at 5:30am and had a very productive day, but after baking up a storm, teaching piano and hosting book club it was late when I finally fell asleep. Julie is wiped out too! She had a morning nap, which is unusual, then wouldn't take an afternoon nap. She's still asleep.

what to do

At work I am deciding between an IBM laptop or a Dell laptop. They both compare very well. Dell seems slightly better looking with more options for less money. But the reviews and support history are in IBM's favor. One of the big questions is whether to go with SSD (solid state drive) or a regular hard drive. SSD is really really cool, but I'm not really sure if I would benefit from it enough to justify adding $1,000 to the price tag. I will forgo the larger battery because I hardly take the laptop from the office. I also wonder if I shouldn't also request a Black Berry. hmm

A taste of summer

Yesterday I saw sailboats on the Eagle Creek Reservoir. It was a nice 73 degrees, we had all the windows open and ended the day by grilling hamburgers and eating outside. If the rest of the summer follows this, it will be a very nice season.

Happy Birthday Dad

Let's see here, you were born in 49, so you are 59 years old today! Congratulations! I hope you have fun and eat a lot of good food.

Reasons to stay married

12 reasons I'm glad I never got divorced!

Kristyamber

Amber called herself Kristy this morning she said, "Kristy is taking a nap." "Kristyamber." Her friend Anna's full name is Kristiana. It cracks me up when she says Kristyamber. :)

If I died today

I think Kristy would not fix the dent in the wall I made with my head in the kitchen. It would be a strange topic between her and any date she has. "Oh that is where my husband smashed his head into the wall." And the guy would be wondering just what kind of guy was this husband that left a dent in the wall with his head. Maybe he would think he had much more going for himself than his predecessor. I'm still not convinced it needs to be replaced right away, it's just a dent. Most people don't even notice it, or at least they haven't said anything about it. It could be that they already know how it got there.

52% more since I started

Today I realized that in my current job my average yearly raise is 13%. Not bad eh? Maybe it's a little more since it isn't even July yet, but I don't anticipate any unscheduled raises until next March.

Here are the RSS feeds that will make it possible for you to keep up with all the blogs & comments easier. Gabe & Laura's blog doesn't support RSS :( I would suggest loading these feeds into a feed reader such as Google Reader and making a folder for the blogs and a folder for the comments. The whole point to this is so that you don't have to visit each blog to see if there is anything new, and you don't have to look at each post to see if anyone has commented in it. Instead you just click on Google Reader and see what has been updated on one consolidated page, the only down side is that you have to set it up for yourself, but that also means you can add other feeds from your friends sites like Alysa or Christie or your children.

http://looneywarden.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
http://biffybrownsblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
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Don't forget you can add authors to your blogs if you want to share them with a spouse that doesn't write very often.

I had a good birthday

I had a good birthday. The house is full of flowers and cheesecake. Kristy got me a new belt and a football. Plus my job has been cool too. I made a virtual server running CentOS and installed squid and snort on it...that has got to sound really weird. Anyway I'm still configuring squid and snort. I got my squid book today in the mail too! Plus today Joe paid for my lunch at Squeelers!

Sick Girls

The girls have been sick for the past few days so I took most of the day off today. Kristy left to go shopping and visited some friends. I feel like a lousy Mom. I guess that doesn't make me much of a father either. I'm still not sure about this blog. Earlier today I was "under investigation" apparently it thought I was a spam site or something. Also there is just entirely too many pictures getting posted, maybe I need to have my own site if this kind of shenanigans keeps up. Plus it looks like it's going to be pretty involved to get a page to aggregate all the comments like I had on my old site, if it's even possible to do across multiple sites.

January Visit 2

January was a good month for visitors. Here's Nana, Papa, and Florence coming to see us...dress up, the zoo, and more. Julie wanted Papa to hold her all the time.

Amber playing

When Amber plays she likes to line things up in a row. How many care bears can one Amber hold?

I like the picture feature of blogger

Amber and Florence are buddies. My camera battery died so I don't have pictures of all our South Bend adventures.

My Little Pony

Here's the stage! :) This was Amber's first play. :) She loved it.

Giving it a try.

So here's a new adventure in our blogging lives. Let's give it a whirl. This is one moment from my last trip to South Bend. Nana took me and Amber to see My Little Pony at the Morris Civic Theatre. We had so much fun! Amber kept saying, "Beautiful."

new blog

Hey John Merritt made me this new blog, it's pretty cool. I think I'll keep it. Thanks John!

attrition

I think I know more people that used to work for my company than people that currently work for my company.

Amber's first scripture & prayer in primary

Today Amber gave her first prayer in primary and she gave the scripture: She said, "My scripture is about Jesus, 2 Nephi 21, chapter 9... And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice." I'm not sure if anyone else understood it, but she did it. She wasn't scared or grumpy about it, she's such a sweety. She did an awesome job. We practiced and when I prompted, "And he"...she added, "cometh" without help! Congratulations Amber, your getting so big, I can hardly believe it!

Yes the comments are broken

Again, I would prefer seeing no comments over having to parse through the profanity that was being spewed in every minute. This time I don't think I'll be fixing it. So feel free to start looking into another blog host. I suggest Blogger.com It's almost spelled like booger.com which would be funny. I was about to say not to bother me about the website cause I'm really pissed off about it, but HA, you can't cause it's broken!

The flying festoon

Oh I'm going to ride on The Flying Festoon -
I'll jump on his back and I'll whistle a tune,
And we'll fly to the outermost tip of the moon,
The Flying Festoon and I.

I'm taking a sandwich, and ball and a prune,
And we're leaving this evening precisely at noon,
For I'm going to fly with The Flying Festoon . . .
Just as soon as he learns how to fly.

This poem by Shel Silverstein reminds me of what I do at work, because of all the things I'm expected to do...
that I've never done before.

All knowing & all powerful

I was wondering if I would loose my job if I left the church. But I can't see it happening like that. I don't think the Lord is so temperamental. I think he is would continue to love me even if I wanned from his teachings. I'll bet that is partly why people think there is no God, because we are not familiar with being loved on such a pure level. And in addition to that we're not always in line with his teachings so sometimes he implements some very unexpected ways to get us back on track.