Posts in In General
On the way to a family gathering in Dallas this past weekend, Jacob made a comment on how it was too bad we couldn’t just think of someplace and be there instantly. I told him that sounded cool, and then asked everyone in the car this:
If you could travel anywhere, at anytime, instantly—where would you live?
The only rules are: you can travel directly to public spaces, your own property, or where you’ve been explicitly invited, and then only during a specific window.
Continue reading Where Would You Live?...
On this day, 36 years ago, I was born. That’s right, today is my birthday! 36 is a pretty insignificant birthday in the grand scheme of things, though I do find it amusing that I’ve now lived my second 18 years. Whereas it seemed like the first 18 years took absolutely forever, the last 18 years have flown by.
Continue reading 36 Years Ago Today...
Here are a couple timeless pieces, just in time for the "Christmas in the workplace" season:
I Am In A Funk and Holiday Update
Hey folks...I'm just sorting through all that's gone on since the last post. It's been uneventful for the most part.
The trip to Boston for Tech-Ed was a lot of fun, though Tech-Ed itself was a little lacking. When I wasn't in a session, Julie and I could be found walking all over Boston, checking out all of the sights. We did the Freedom Trail, we did the Public Garden, Boston Common, the North End, U.S.S. Constitution, churches and more churches, MIT, Harvard, rode the "T", and even took the commuter train out to Lincoln to visit an old roommate. All in all, a very good trip.
Over the 4th of July weekend, Julie and I took the boys down to her parent's beach house. It was packed (the house, that is) -- 11 people and 2 dogs! The people broke down like so: 6 adults and 5 children, ages 2 1/2 to 6 years old, and all boys. We did finally get out on the water for a little shark fishing, though we didn't catch one. I did, however, catch a ribbon fish and a couple of speckled trout, though the trout got away.
The boys have been with me all month, which has been very nice, if not quite a bit hectic.
Oh, before I forget, I took Julie to see Les Miserables in Dallas for her birthday. This is one of her favorite shows, but it was the first time I had ever seen it. I really enjoyed it.
Well, that's it for now...
According to a
Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, the
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History has decided to show the IMAX film
Volcanoes of the Deep Sea.
Museum Director Van Romans, with the blessing of the board of directors, reversed the museum's decision and said the film will open in Fort Worth "before summer." The film is already being promoted on the museum's Web site.
"We're going to show things that have scientific credibility, and people can make their own decisions," Romans said Wednesday. "That's a very personal choice. But we are a science and history institution. We have a responsibility to the public to share with them."
Carol Murray, director of marketing for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, said the museum decided not to offer the movie after showing it to a sample audience, a practice often followed by managers of Imax theaters. Ms. Murray said 137 people participated in the survey, and while some thought it was well done, "some people said it was blasphemous." In their written comments, she explained, they made statements like "I really hate it when the theory of evolution is presented as fact," or "I don't agree with their presentation of human existence."
I heard about this for the first time on my drive to work this morning. I quickly found a New York Times article on the subject, which is where the text above came from.
In all honesty, I was not likely to see this film, even if it was shown in Fort Worth. The fact that now I can't see it locally, due to the narrow minded views of some, really burns me up. The increasing power of religious fundamentalists scares me.
I am disappointed in the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and I am embarrassed to live in such a narrow-minded community.
As I come across them, I will post additional links on this subject:
Imax Theaters Reject Movies Containing Evolution
Looks like folks in Norway view the "Hook'em Horns" sign a little differently than us.
Saluting the Longhorns, or satan?
I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving holiday.
I'm heading down to Austin in a bit for some turkey with my sister and brother-in-law, and then some Texas football tomorrow afternoon.
Today is the 3-year anniversary of something I’d rather forget. It’s been 3 years since I left Colorado. Some of my long-time readers might recall
a post from
August of 2002 where I said it was the 1-year anniversary of my departure from Colorado, and wonder what the heck I’m talking about now.
In August of 2001, I was hired by a company in Fort Worth, Texas. Our house in Colorado hadn’t sold, and we had a 1 bedroom apartment in Fort Worth available to use practically free of charge for a couple of months. So the plan was for my wife and 13 month-old son to stay in Colorado until the house sold, or as long as made sense. To my wife, about two weeks made sense. On
September 5th, 2001, my dad and I flew up to Denver to pack the house and move everything to storage in Fort Worth, while my wife and son joined me in the tiny 1 bedroom apartment.
On September 8, 2001, I was busy driving a big ass moving truck through southern Colorado, across northeastern New Mexico, and down into the Texas panhandle. I’ve not been back to Colorado since.
Before we moved to Colorado, I went practically every year since I was 6 or 7…sometimes twice a year (to ski, snowboard, and camp). Now, here we are three years later, and I am dying to get back, if just for a visit…just a few days. Work keeps getting in the way, or perhaps I keep letting it get in the way. Maybe it is time to rearrange my priorities and take a little break. I’ve got old friends to catch up with, and maybe even a new one or two to meet in person for the first time.
Live Strong is an educational program of the
Lance Armstrong Foundation. It is a resource for cancer survivors, their friends and families, caregivers and health care providers. Support those living with cancer, support the
LAF.
If you've been following the
Tour de France at all this year, perhaps you've noticed many people, riders, commentators, officials, and fans, wearing yellow wristbands. These wristbands are not for security, they don't designate the wearer as being affiliated with the Tour, they simply show support for the
LAF and for those living with cancer. These yellow wristbands are engraved with Lance's mantra of LIVE
STRONG, and are being sold to raise $5 million for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. You can get yours
here.
WEARYELLOW LIVESTRONG
Anyone have a spare
Gmail invite for me? If you do,
Contact Me.
In case you were wondering where I've been for the past couple of months, I've been busy, very busy.
Aside from every day life -- 40+ hour job, parent of 2 young children, etc, we've been house hunting, and I've been working a side project. Between those two things, I've hardly had time to breath. The good news is that the house hunting is over officially. In fact, we are signed sealed and delivered, having moved in this weekend. I'll save you the boring details of it all, except to say that the neighborhood has fiber to the curb and most houses come already networked.
Now if I can just get everything unpacked and get finished with this side project -- more on that later.
Happy New Year!
Wow, has it really been 4 years since we rang in Y2K? So much has happened to me and my family in that time -- from moving to Denver just two weeks before Y2K and having child #1 in mid 2000, to moving back to Texas in late 2001 and more recently having child #2 just under 2 months ago -- yet it seems just like yesterday.
As I get older, the hands of the clock seem to move ever faster. I'm barely in my 30's, what's it like in your 40's? 50's? Or even older?
After a night of staying at home, watching movies and eating the best filet mignon I've ever cooked (along with some very tasty roasted poblano and garlic mashed potatoes -- my creation as well ;-), with the wife and the little ones, it is time to get some rest.
Hope you have a happy and prosperous 2004!
Heading down to Austin in the morning for a nice long weekend with my sister, brother-in-law, mom, step-dad, and of course my wife and 3-year old son. Birthday festivities Saturday evening, and then the real reason for the trip happens Sunday evening -
Texas Longhorn football. Texas opens the season at 6 PM Sunday against New Mexico State.
Hook'em!
A
dog in St. Louis survived the gas chamber...
We (me, wife, and son) are headed to the bay area tomorrow (or is it today already?), for a long weekend. The purpose is to celebrate my Grandmother's 80th birthday and to attend her side of the family's annual reunion. To my knowledge, I've never been to this thing, but it should be fun. We'll be seeing some folks that I haven't seen in several years to never.
All the family stuff takes place on Saturday, the rest of the trip is to show my son the sites and just relax -- which shouldn't be hard, as we are staying with family in Marin county (Tiburon to be exact).
As might be expected, my son won't stop talking about all that he is going to see...sea lions, cable cars, boats, the ocean, big bridges, etc. He even has it in his mind that we are going to see a shark. Too much time spent watching Animal Planet, I suspect -- though when I was at Stinson Beach back in '99, they had recently had a shark sighting, so you never know. Oh, and he wants some pizza.
We'll spend a fare amount of time in San Francisco, and thought about North Beach Pizza, as it is a place I've tried before, and liked, but I am looking for alternatives. Viable locations include San Francisco, Marin, and all the way up to St. Helena, or over in the East Bay, say Berkley area.
White only prom returns to Georgia
I was firing up my browser a little while ago and came across the above headline on the front page of
MSN. I was shocked into clicking. I can't believe that in this country, in this day and age, that there would be a segregated dance at a public school (or any school). The fact that the school isn't actually sponsoring this segregated prom is of little consequence, as school officials are partly to blame for the way it is being done -- they wanted to avoid the problems arising from interracial dating. And what about the parents? And the kids? This is an outrage. I only wish that some of these young racists had been interviewed so that we could gain some insight into their warped minds. The people of Taylor County, Georgia, who are responsible for this, should be ashamed.
[Listening to: We Shall Be Free - Garth Brooks - The Chase (03:49)]
Hey
Brad, how long have you had the new logo up? It looks real nice.
We've been iced in here for the past two days. All of North Texas has been under a layer of sleet and ice since Monday.
Though I love winter weather, and really miss the quantity and quality of winter weather that we had while living in Colorado, there are a couple of things I had forgotten about that I absolutely don't miss:
- Constantly cleaning the dogs feet off when she comes in.
- Forgetting that my shoes are covered in ice and tracking it into the house, then walking in a puddle of water a little later with just my socks on.
- The extra time it takes to get anywhere.
On the other hand, I love that this sort of weather shuts things down here. I really enjoyed the two days off from work, and the time spent with my son.
I made it safe and sound to pleasant Pleasanton, California. The flight was quite rough, but the scenery was amazing. I had abosultely gorgeous views of the Grand Canyon. One of these days I will have to visit on the ground.
Pleasanton seems nice enough. I did some driving around after checking in to my hotel. There's a nice little downtown area with a lot of places to eat and shops -- it was very busy when I went through there. The one thing that really caught my attention was the number of shiny new office buildings that are sitting empty.
All right, time to pay attention to Alias.
I will be in the Bay Area all next week (2/9 - 2/15) attending some training for my 9-5 job (training is at Documentum, if you must know). I wish I was going out there for
VSLive! this year, but such as life. Anyway, my evenings will be free, and I'd love to hook up with any of you .NET bloggers that live out there or are in town for VSLive.
Well, the snow has been falling steadily for the past 4 hours, and it is finally sticking. I took a couple of pictures, not that they are anything special compared to
this, or
this, but I will post them up here a little later for the curious.
Hey, it's snowing here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I know this isn't highly unusual, it does snow (more likely is an ice storm) once in a while. Heck, growing up, I probably had as many snow days as the kids in Denver (simply because Dallas doesn't have the equipment to deal with wintry weather, whereas Denver has more than enough). Anyway, having been back in Texas for almost a year and a half now, the thing I've missed most of all is the snow. We weren't in Colorado long enough for the novelty to wear off, though it was close (but only after I had to start shoveling my own sidewalks and driveway).
By the way, it isn't sticking or anything, but it is still nice to look at. Now, if only the temperature would drop another couple of degrees.
This day just sucked. This week has just sucked, but this day in particular.
My home pc is not yet repaired and I nearly lost the database for the weblog app.
On top of all this, work is so busy that if I had twice the time, I'd still be busting my tail to get things done.
What a day. Is it over yet?
"You're too nice for a Monday morning", he said, as I held the elevator door open for the two people that were a few steps behind us.
Hmm...
Does the day really matter? Would this guy hold a door for anyone on Tuesday? Wednesday? How about Friday?
Too many times, I've seen doors shut in people's faces (including my own), be it elevator doors or just regular old doors into an office building or store. Whatever happened to manners? When did we all become so rude? Are we so wrapped up in ourselves that we no longer stop to consider those around us?
I held the door because they were close enough for doing so to make sense (I wouldn't have held the door if they were at the other end of the parking garage), and I've had enough doors shut in my face to know that I wouldn't want to do that to someone else.
It's a small thing, really. It takes just a moment or two of time, sometimes less. They feel good, you feel good. If more people would do the little things to help out others, the world would be a much nicer place.
I hope everyone is off to a very happy New Year!
We had a nice New Year's Eve, spent at home watching movies (
Like Mike
&
XXX).
Just enough time to catch the Cotton Bowl before heading off to my sister's birthday party.
I just got potentially the best present ever -- a ticket for tonight's Power Ball. This is a big deal for two reasons.
- I don't live in a Power Ball state (or even very close to one).
- The last estimate I heard was around $300 million.
Of course, I don't expect to win, but at least now I have a chance.
Thanks Tom!
Heading over to the in-law's now. Won't be back online for at least 24 hours. Boy, these holiday's sure put a crimp in my coding productivity.
p.s. I have learned that I am getting XBox Live and at least one game that supports it. Unfortunately the in-laws don't have a high-speed connection, so the "live" part will have to wait until I get back home.
Well, I tried to skip out on my picture being taken for later use on a christmas tree ornament, but my boss would have nothing of it. Tomorrow we are supposed to decorate our ornaments. That is something I will pass on - unless I can put a Star of David or a menorah on mine. But then, what is the point? I wouldn't want someone making a manger scene as part of my Hanukkah decorations (if I had any).
I am not sure why I am more bothered by all of this Christmas stuff this year. I have dealt with it all of my life. Heck, we even had a tree when I was a kid (mom's family is not Jewish, though she converted before I was born - to a few this will mean that I am not Jewish, but that doesn't change how I was raised or what I believe).
I have strong memories of a day during the first grade when my mom and the mom's of the other couple of Jewish first-graders came to school and we shared with our teachers and classmates the story and traditions of our minor holiday of Hanukkah. Unfortuantely I don't remember how I felt about doing this at the time. Over the years I have wondered if this one event sheltered me from insensitivity regarding religion (at least in school). As far as I can recall, I was never messed with because of my religion (and rarely for any other reason).
Instead of asking what I got for Christmas, they'd ask about my Hanukkah gifts. I never had to explain why we didn't have lights on the house, or why I wasn't in school during the High Holidays (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur). More than likely, the kids probably thought it was cool that I potentially received gifts for 8 nights and that I was allowed to miss school for the other, more important holidays. Of course what they didn't know is that while I might have received gifts on 8 nights, my parents were no better off than theirs, so in the end we all got about the same amount of stuff. Also, they probably didn't know that while I wasn't in school during the High Holidays, I still had to do any assigned work (due the day I got back) and typically had to take a test earlier if an idiot teacher had scheduled a test for one of those days.
Perhaps the answer is to be more open about my religion -- so people "know".
But I have a problem with that approach. Instead of someone saying "if I had known...," wouldn't it be better to say "I didn't know, and I didn't want to make any assumptions..." (or something similar)? Besides, like I said in my earlier post, my religion is my business. I won't impose my beliefs and traditions on you, please don't impose yours on me.
Are we too closed-minded as a society to realize that we are not all the same, and to be sensitive to possible differences?
Due to a change in my employer's vacation policy, I must use all of my time off for 2002 before the end of the year, or I lose it. To most of you, this might not seem like a big deal, and really, it isn't, I just get a lot of time off in the final two months of the year.
Let's see, I've been back from Mexico for two weeks now, and already I am on my last day at work prior to another week off. Then it is back in the office for the first three weeks of December, and then so long 2002 - no more work until 2003. I don't know what to do with myself and this time off. I am typically not the type of person to take a week off unless I have plans to go somewhere. Being that I did just go to Mexico, it isn't likely I will be making another trip this year.
What's a guy to do? I could work on my weblog app (by the way, I need a name for it - it was metaBlog, but I don't know if I care for that, and lately I've used blog.NET, but still uncertain), it is way past time for completing that thing. I could probably get a ton of stuff done on it next week. But I just hate staying at home when I am off from work.
I could take my son somewhere. I don't know where. I'd love to go camping with him, but at 2 years 4 months, he is still a little young for enjoying that. We could go visit my mom, but she was just here with us for 5 days. I am going to Austin on Thursday (not sure if the trip will be made pre or post turkey) so that I can make the Texas vs. a&m game Friday morning. Even that leaves me empty. I could go down to Austin a few days early and just hang out. It's a great town for that.
Maybe a shitload of snow will fall between now and my next week off, the end of December. Then I can easily decide what to do - head to Breckenridge for a week of snowboarding. I haven't hit the slopes since winter 2000-2001, when I had my one and only ski-pass. I was so bummed about moving from Colorado back to Texas last Fall that I didn't have the heart to go riding this past winter.
Enough rambling, time to surf for something fun and exciting to do next week!
DSL is coming...should be installed tomorrow. Then I can finally rid myself of the cable company. Yea!!!
The move to the new place has just wrecked my routine. Don't get me wrong, I like the new place, but for the past 2 days, I've had no desire to go workout after work. It could have something to do with the 30-40 minute commute (versus 5 minutes before), or it could be the fact that I no longer have a workout room to fall back on, like I did in the townhome. More likely, it has something to do with no longer being a quarter mile away from my gym. Now, I must go to a Bally's (where I have a lifetime membership, but it is 4 miles or so away from the house, or I go to my old gym, which is in the opposite direction of the house - but semi-close to work.
Whatever it is, I've got to get it worked out. I've been very good about getting exercise over the past 6 and a half months.
Today marks the one year mark since I loaded up the truck with the bare essentials and our dog, Molly, left Castle Rock, Colorado, and headed to Fort Worth, Texas.
Friday, August 24th, 2001.
It is a day I will never forget. Leaving Colorado and my family was one of the hardest things I've had to do. Fortunately, my family followed only a couple of weeks later. Unfortunately, I still live in Fort Worth - not Colorado.
This coming Thursday will be my first anniversary at
PPC. The next day, Friday, August 30th, I turn 30.
Did I mention that I received the employee of the month award for August? It isn't company wide, just for our Content Management Dept., nonetheless, there are still 60+ people to choose from.
Well, time to get ready to go to
Gidgit's 10 year high school reunion. Time to be bored out of my mind.
Today I gave up my Colorado Driver's License. You see, I needed to finally get my Texas Driver's License. I had one before, but I had to give that up to get my Colorado license. Fortunately, if you know your old DL# and it hasn't expired, then all you have to do is request a duplicate license. Of course I had to stand in line to update my address and have a new picture taken, but no eye exam or anything. That will happen next year when my license expires and I have to renew. Speaking of renewal, they wouldn't let me renew today because I wasn't within one year of the expiration of my DL. It expires on my birthday in 2003 (8 days shy of being able to renew). The lady asked if I wanted to come back next Friday and take care of the duplicate and renewal all at once, but after already waiting 45 minutes, I decided against it.
So that's it, it's done. One last thing about DL's...I prefer the Colorado method - they have these little Driver's License stores all over, there is rarely a wait, and you get your DL right then and there. My Texas DL will arrive in 2-3 weeks. Until then, I have a paper certificate without a picture.
A couple of weeks ago, this
place opened up in the lobby of the building I work in. At first, their product tasted a bit weak, but got better over the next couple of days. Today, I learned that a large latte gets only one shot of espresso - no wonder I wasn't getting the same boost from that as I get from a venti latte from
Starbucks. I had them add another shot, it was yummy.
Can't this rain go somewhere else? Someplace where it is needed more?
At least we haven't received as much rain as south and central Texas.
Netflix cranks up DVD distribution With 10 new distribution centers opening throughout the country, the online DVD-rental company believes it has the capacity to handle up to 1 million orders a day. [
CNET News.com]
I have been using
Netflix since last October and generally love it. Shipment times have been good for the most part, with most CD's arriving within 3 days of shipping. Hopefully this will cut times to 1-2 days.
Message for Netflix: How about an alert via email whenever my queue gets low, or heaven forbid empty?
Due to recent
remarks by Ted Turner, equating Israel with terrorists, I will no longer be using
AOL products, including AIM.
By now, you've
heard about the wildfires raging in Colorado, specifically the Hayman fire. This time last year, we lived south of Denver in Castle Rock, which last I checked was on the edge of the evacuation area. For the first time since having to leave Colorado, I am glad to not be there.
Did you know that I once started a franternity with several friends while I was attending the
University of Texas? It's name was ΣΕΧ. We even registered with the University as a service organization, which required a meeting with the Dean of something or other.
Too bad it didn't last.
I have begun applying some of my latest content management code to the family web site -
well, to the development version of the family web site. If all goes well, the development site will move into production within the next week. This also means that folks will finally be able to post their own content for the site.
In other news, Jacob had tubes put in his ears this past Friday. The procedure went smoothly, and he is doing very well. The decision to have tubes put in his ears was a tough one, but ultimately the best one. They should greatly reduce the number of ear infections that he has, which will make his life more pleasant.
One last thing - I recently upgraded the code on this site to v1 of ASP.NET, which in turn broke some things. For the time being, the archives remain dead.
Is anyone out there?
Ok, I don't hate Texas. I actually love Texas - I hate
living in Texas.
I hate Texas.
Really digging our new digs...nice and close to work (mine at least), as well as all kinds of other cool stuff - museums, IMAX, zoo, botanical gardens, neighborhood cafes, legendary bbq, etc.
Oh, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy a high-speed connection...the instant gratification of it all...yes!
We are moving out of our temporary housing and into a townhome. No, the house hasn't sold, but the friends lease at the place where we've been staying is almost up.
I will have highspeed internet there and might be relocating the server to our new location. So, FYI, there could be some downtime in the next couple of weeks.
Serious Question
Do deaf people talk to themselves, and if so, do those that know sign language sign to themselves?
I was at Barnes & Noble the other night and a guy who is at least hearing impaired (he had hearing aids behind both ears) was standing at a display rack looking at stuff and signing. There was no one else around for him to be signing to, so that is where the question comes from.
How times have
changed.
That's all.
For all of you Longhorns out there who might be looking for a last minute item of orange to round out your gear for tomorrow's big game,as well as take you through the rest of the year, check out the
burnt orange tumbler from
Starbucks's. Ok, so they call it Pumkin Spice, but it looks burnt orange to me.
Beat The Hell Out Of ou!
Hook'em!
I have been short-tempered, bitter, mean, impatient, disinterested, unmotivated, and many more things these past few weeks. Many people have probably felt the same way in light of the recent events, but I think that my anger is rooted in other issues that have not been dealt with. I think that my anger stems from July 19th, 2001.
July 19th, 2001, the day before my son's first birthday. Some family members were already in town for the special day, more family members were scheduled to arrive later in the day. It was to be a happy time, a good time. It was to be a time of family coming together to celebrate the 1st birthday of the first member of the next generation. How quickly things change.
I had recently completed a project and had taken to working from home while between projects. On this day, I was at home with family - mom, step-dad, wife, and son. Sometime in the late morning on July 19th, 2001, I received a phone call from my boss. This in of itself was not unusual. After all, he would regularly call for one reason or another, and typically it was to tell me that I was going onto another project at a client location 1-2 hours drive from home...not a call that I enjoyed receiving. On this day, however, when the phone rang and my wife answered, I knew immediately who it was and that it was not going to be a pleasant call. There had been a layoff and I had been let go. On the bright side, I would be paid through the end of July (yippee! that makes all the difference in the world...).
So there I was, freshly unemployed with family in from out of town and more arriving later that day. I was shocked, I was mad -- I didn't know what to do. Ok, the obvious thing to do was get a new job, but that wasn't going to happen that day or even that week. In the meantime, how do I deal with all these people around? How do I deal with friends and family at the house on the Saturday for the big birthday party? When do I get to deal with the emotions that I was sure to have from being laid off? I had to be strong, for my wife's sake. She didn't need the stress. I had to be happy, after all, I didn't want to ruin the party. At the same time, I needed to grieve and be pissed off.
That afternoon, as more family was arriving, I took a short bike ride to blow some steam. I rode as hard and as fast as I could. I don't know that it helped. In the following days and weeks I held the emotions in as they were nonproductive in my search for a new job. Within a couple of weeks I had an interview with a company in Texas. Within a week after the interview I had a job offer. Within two weeks of the offer I was getting ready to go to Texas to work. I had still not let my emotions over losing my job out. Some might argue that I didn't need to at this point, because I had another job. Either way, they stayed bottled up inside. Additionally, I was now feeling the stress of trying to sell our almost new house, moving and starting a new job. Resentment and new anger were building over the fact that I had to leave my home in Colorado for this job. I was angry that I would no longer be in Colorado, I was mad that I was not going to enjoy my house that we had lived in for less than 6 months. Still, the emotions stayed bottled up inside.
Then September 11th happens. I have grieved, I've been sad, I've cried, and now I am angry. I am angry because now I am fearful. I am not afraid of dying, I am not afraid of war. I am afraid for those that I love, especially those who are so young and innocent. I am afraid of the world that my son will grow up to know -- a world of terror, a world of hatred, a world of war, a world of fear. I fear that one day my wife will head off to work and my son to school and that it will be the last I see of them.
That pisses me off.
I am back in Austin for the first time since moving to Denver - a time period of nearly two years. Coming to Austin was a bad idea, but it had to happen eventually. Afterall, my sister and brother-in-law live here, as do my beloved Longhorns. So why is visiting a problem, you ask? I love this town, more than almost every other town in the country, and definitely in Texas...probem is, I will likely not be able to live here again. The rest of our family (mine and my wife's) lives in and around Dallas. Having a child means having a sense of duty to keep that child close to his or her roots...that is, close to the extended family. It is important to us, I just happen to think that a 3-hour car drive is close enough. It is certainly better than a 2 hour plane ride. My wife thinks that it isn't close enough, so Dallas/Fort Worth it is. Too bad, because I miss this town.
Oh, by the way, I am in Austin attending Microsoft's .Net Developer Training. So far so good...lot's of information to digest.
I am waiting for the other shoe to fall. When, where? Wouldn't we all like to know.
The personal tales that are being shown on TV are sometimes too much. I can't handle such sadness.
I woke up each of the last two mornings hoping to turn on the TV and hear that we have blown some of these "terrorist friendly" countries to hell.
So here I am in Texas.
I've been here for a week now and started my new job this past Wednesday. So far, so good, I suppose...perhaps a bit boring. The people are great, a real nice group, but I don't know that I am going to enjoy the job itself, of course I am only a few days in and you can't base anything on such a short period of time.
Hook'em! - I've been waiting for what seems like forever for the college football season to begin. Finally, last night, Texas opened their season against New Mexico State with a 41-7 victory. Of course there were some rough spots in the opener, but all in all they looked good, especially Cedric Benson.
It is so close I can taste it...and to think that I'll be back in Texas for this football season. Now, if only I had my season ticket back.
Based on this, I would have to say that the offense is simply going to crush opposing defenses because the Horns defense is supposed to be very good this year, especially at linebacker and in the secondary.
This sucks. Specifically, uncertainty sucks.
What is not uncertain is that I will be working again come next week, what is uncertain is just exactly where that will be (odds are on Fort Worth, Tx, but I am pulling for the longshot, Dallas).
What is much less certain is how long I will be working in another state before I am able to finally settle down there - we have to sell the house and all first.
Yo wassup?!?
A
black bear has been on the loose near Jacob's daycare for the past few days. She was finally captured this evening.
Oh my,
this is an amazing picture from
Olympia, Wa.
So it seems that I could have an opportunity to work in Olympia. Anyone know anything about this town or the area?
Two brothers in Korea have been arrested for running a Napster like web site and application. No big deal? Think again, these guys have a system similar to
Gnutella in that there is not one single centralized server.
This will be an interesting case to follow, even though it is taking place in Korea. One question...do they really have an 8-story apartment? No wonder they are so skinny.
It's official!!!
Lance Armstrong has just become the 5th cyclist ever to win 3 straight Tour de France's, and the second American to win a total of 3 Tour's.
Too bad OLN wasn't able to carry today's stage into Paris live. Oh well, you can bet that I will be watching the coverage on CBS at 2 PM EST today.
So I am doing things, just not things that pay. In case you hadn't heard, I was laid off a week ago. Out of the blue, no warning, little severance. Bitter? Yes, but being bitter won't help pay the bills or get me a job.
If you know someone looking to hire a developer with Microsoft-centric skills (VB, ASP, COM/COM+, SQL Server, ADO, CDO, XML, XSLT, HTML, Javascript, etc), let me know.
So back to the things I am doing...there is metaStash, and <c@chedCode> Technology Group and this super secret thing that the CCTG is building.
So I am staying busy.
I hope that nobody took yesterday's post the wrong way (not that anyone reads this). I have the utmost respect for Andrew and Martin. They had a dream and they pursued it. It didn't work out, and that is sad. Sad because they put so much of themselves into it and sad because in this down market,
Hand was surviving. They had the guts to put off the big hit and instead focused on building a viable company. Now that things haven't worked out, they are closing the doors while the company still has money in the bank so that employee's are not hung out to dry and so that debts can be repaid. I commend them for making the difficult decision.
My former employer,
HandTech (or is handtech.com or Hand Technologies?), has closed their doors. Too bad, they (Martin and Andrew) could have taken the money and run had they taken the company public back in the dotcom heyday, unfortunately they wanted to be profitable first, and now they are closed.
It's been nearly a week since I have written a single line of code. Each time I get the urge and sit down at my computer, I invariably get up 2 minutes later and go read a book.
Not that you care, but for the first time in 3 years I can see my chin. Yes, I shaved off my goatee. A picture? I doubt it.
Well, here it is a week and a half since we last talked.
So what's new with you? Hey, that sounds like fun.
Me? Well, we went camping this weekend in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Yeah, it was a good time. We did your typical camping thing...you know, hiking and roasting marshmallows and stuff.
No, Jacob didn't go...he stayed with his Great Aunt for the weekend, I hear they had a blast.
Yes, of course, I took pictures. I'll post them soon.
Hey, want to see something cool? Hit
refresh several times.
All praise me :-)
Do me a favor, click on this. Now look in your address bar...see that? default.aspx? That means that this page is now an ASP.NET page. Also, the "Places I Visit" list to the left...it is generated using the web service that I wrote yesterday. If you are toying with ASP.NET and want to use my web service, drop me a line.
.net is gonna be big...
I am just a blogging fool today!
Archives.
In the very near future, my little web site will become a dot net site...that is ASP.NET. I recently wrote a web service that exposes the bookmarks and links from metaStash so that users can use this data within their own applications - more on this later. Anyway, I want to be able to use my links from metaStash on my own website, so that was the inspiration for the web service.
Yes, I should be working instead of playing.
Well, I've been doing this blog thing for over a year now and was perusing the archives recently...interesting stuff. I will make the archives available in the near future for those of you that care.
How To Write Unmaintainable Code...great stuff, good for a laugh, unless you are maintaining code like this.
Hmmm.
The family (Gidgit and Jacob)
is back from their brief stay in Dallas. Evidently they had a good time.
Me? I stayed in Colorado, enjoyed the quiet, except for around 10:00 PM Saturday night when I called the police due
to some overly excited Colorado Avalanche fans who thought that it would be cool to shoot off fireworks in the
middle of our street. Now I am not normally such a party pooper, but when the consequences of someone's actions could
affect my own personal property, that is where I draw the line. Never saw the police though.
Did I mention how much I hate my job? I wonder if my employer has come across my site yet? Probably not.
Are you a developer? Would you like to be a part of our developer co-op? If so drop me a line at bryan at daneman dot com.
What does this co-op do? I don't know, that's why we need you. Actually, the co-op, also known as c@chedCode Technology Group, has been formed to help bring developer's
together to share information and idea's, brainstorm, collaborate on projects, etc. The Group is just starting out,
so why not help get us going.
Hey, I almost forgot to mention my latest development efforts...
c@chedCode. It will be the home of my new company, c@chedCode Technology Group.
Have I mentioned how much I am disliking my job? I shouldn't complain though, at least I am employed, right?
Not quite.
On top of making a 100+ mile roundtrip commute everyday, I am filling in for a co-worker who is on vacation.
No big deal, right?
Wrong.
You see, I had just a couple of days of "transition" and I am supposed to step in and not miss a beat, when the person working on this has had 2+ months to get up to speed. Did I mention that this involves a product that is practically beta, is full of bugs, and has little documentation? What a headache! I am considering finding another job just to get off of this project.
Ugh! There is that pain in my ass again.
So Gidgit and Jacob are in Dallas until Sunday. How loney I am already.
Damn. I keep letting so much time go by between posts.
I tool is only useful if it gets used. I guess that Blogger is not useful for me. That, or my website is not useful to me, or anyone else for that matter.
In my pursuit to do something useful, I have created what is for me, the most useful too around, metaStash. It is a handy little web app that lets users Stash all kinds of useful data as they surf the web. This useful data is then stored in a centralized, web based repository for easy retrieval later. Try it, use it, love it, but most importantly, StashIt!.
Now, on to more mundane things...
We will finally be getting our new Dell PowerEdge Server up and running and online this coming weekend. This server, along with several older ones will provide hosting services to a number of sites in the future, including Daneman.com, Daneman.org, metaStash.com, cachedCode.com, and some other domains that I have yet to purchase.
I am telling you (if there is a you) just in case you experience downtime this weekend for any of the above mentioned sites.
I guess that it is official...I am now a Coloradan. Sure, I've been here over a year, but last week I finally surrendered my Texas drivers license. To me, the ties to Texas are officially cut. It was hard.
New, super-comfy
shoes - Classic Taupe.
Well, well, well. I sure have been neglecting my blog duties. Do you really care?
Life has been busy, to say the least. I am finally finished with the hellish project that dominated my existence since mid-May of this year. I am on to bigger and better projects...well, at least billable projects. Unfortunately, we have a tight deadline, and I have little time for my own stuff.
Regarding my own stuff...my port of a web app from ASP to JSP met a tragic ending. It seems that when I was backing up all my data on to a CD-ROM last week, prior to rebuilding my server, the CD-RW decided to act up and act like the data copied, when in fact it didn't. Stupid me went on and reformatted without checking the data first. Needless to say, it is all gone now. Unfortunately (or fortunately, not sure yet), I now have a copy of Visual Studio.NET Beta 1 and will be focusing m personal development efforts on getting up to speed on the latest from Microsoft.
How 'bout our boy Dubya? It's about time that this whole damn election thing is over. I can't believe how dense Al Gore is...it took him over 5 weeks to finally realize what we all knew on Nov. 7. What a goron.
I'm out...
-Bryan
Where the hell has this year gone? I can't believe that we are past the mid-point of October already. Thanksgiving is around the corner, then those other holiday's, finally New Year's Eve. Wasn't New Year's Eve like just last week?
So what's been up with me lately, you ask?
Baby, baby, baby, and more baby. I knew that having a child would be very time consuming, but I never imagined that it would be this time consuming. Actually, I don't mind.
In addition to the baby, I have been working. Not too much, though. Not anything like this past August and September. I have decided to learn Java and JSP. In fact, my first order of business will be to port an application that I am currently developing using ASP over to JSP. As it gets closer to completion I will post links to both versions.
Down the road, ASP+ is looming large. I can't wait to get started using it. It pisses me off that MS announced it and VS.NET (along with VB.NET and C#) so far in advance of when they'll be released. I want it now!
That's it for now...
-Bryan
So much time spent on something that is a piece of crap.
My current project has had problems from the beginning...a lack of design documents, clear business rules, etc. Yet, we keep plugging away at it, hoping that one day, we can move onto something else.
It looks like I will be going for my MCSD, MCDBA, and MCSE certifications in the very near future. I have had numbers whispered in my ear regarding compensation should I start getting certified. Since the company is paying for it, why not?
Stayed home for most of the day with Jacob as his nanny had other things going on. Does that seem right? You run a business, and that business is open certain hours on certain days. People count on you to be open, just like the grocery store, or the gas station. Seems like this nanny should have found a back up for her business. Oh well, I enjoyed the time with Jacob. We had a lot of fun bonding.
That's it for now,
-Bryan
So, let's see...last post was 7/31/2000. I guess it is time to post again.
A lot has happened since my last post. Mostly, life have revolved around my son, Jacob, and work.
Jacob is great! I never imagined that being a parent could be so fulfilling, yet so hard...and he is only 6 1/2 weeks old.
Work...ah work...well that is one thing that I could do without for a while. We are nearly finished with our current project, and it can't end soon enough. To say that I am looking forward to my next assignment would be a gross understatement. On the bright-side, I am going to a Web Developer's Conference in Las Vegas in 2 weeks. I can't wait!
One last note...check out my new favorite show, Bull.
-Bryan
Yeah, yeah...I know, it's been awhile since my last post...cut me some slack and surf on over
here.
Well, well...on Sunday, Mom, Jacob, and Dad finally came home.
Sunday night was quite an experience being home with Jacob for the first time. This kid is getting regular already...every two hours, "FEED ME!". I've never known tired like this before...I can only imagine what Gidgit is going through.
Don't let my comments fool you, I wouldn't trade this for the world! Time to bond with lil' Earl (Jacob).
Holy cow! He is finally here. It is so amazing!
I am overwhelmed, relieved, happy, exhausted...words can simply not accurately describe the range of emotions that I have experienced over the last 2 days.
Check out Jacob Earl Daneman.
We are going to have our baby now...we will talk to everyone soon!
Love Bryan & Gidgit
Hmmmm, how to focus, when then birth of your first child is close at hand? Tomorrow is Gidgit's due date. Things have happened in the last 12 hours, letting us know that it will happen sooner rather than later, but they are not happening fast enough. If this slow pace continues through the week, I will get nothing done.
I am building a site for those of you coming out to Colorado for a visit. It will basically be a catalog of links with useful info for Denver and Colorado.
Incompetency
RULES!
I am sure that things will get better. If not, I'll move on and add another few k to my salary.
Work
sucks.
Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July. We had a very nice, relaxing 4th. We went to see the
Gladiator today. What an incredible movie! For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend that you do...just leave the kids at home.
I have finally experienced the future of grocery store shopping...all I can say is, checkers and baggers beware, just not yet! Today, Gidgit and I shopped at our local
King Soopers store where we decided to use their "check yourself" system. This system essentially eliminates the need for checkers and baggers as you do that yourself. Yup, you heard right...you check your own goods and bag 'em yourself. Nice concept as long as everything scans and there are no price errors. Of course we all now how often that happens! Our checkout actually went smoothly...the best part is that there was next to no line to use the system. I'll definitely use it again.
What the hell is going on up there?
About once or twice a month, always on a weekend...we hear loud stomping, banging, voices, noises coming from the apartment upstairs. Now, this apartment is not leased. Our sources indicate that it is a corporate apartment, but I think the only people using it are the apartment complex employees or their friends. My guess is that they use this apartment for parties. It is time to have a talk with the property management about this.
Have I really slacked off for more than a week? Where does the time go?
For those of you who like to play your music CD's in your CD-ROM drives, especially those in laptops, check your disks from time to time for scratches. I just scratched 3 of my all-time favorite CD's by playing them on my work laptop (IBM Thinkpad). So now I have had to venture over to BMG and replace them.
Tomorrow marks 37 weeks of pregnancy for Gidgit. That means the due date is only 3 weeks away! We both would rather he comes earlier rather than later, as we are ready to get on with this chapter of our lives.
Doctor's visit yesterday. Mom is healthy, baby is healthy, the pregnancy is going by the book so far. Just over 4 weeks till the due date. I am still thinking the baby will be here early.
I had an interesting dream two nights ago. I was out with the baby. The baby was probably 6 months old, and a girl! Each time we have had a sonagram, the evidence points very strongly to the aby being a boy, but you never know. Anyway, I am sure that this is a typical dream of expecting parents who have already learned the baby's sex. If the only "complication" during labor is that the baby is actually a girl...who cares? We will love the baby no matter what.
Tonight we finished our 4 week class on preparing for childbirth. Sitting at home, I feel less prepared than I ever have. Perhaps this feeling is due to the overwhelmingly comprehensive review we had in class...did I sleep through the others?
I am sure that it is nothing, and the feeling will pass. Still, it is odd. I felt so confident, so sure, before. Now I feel a little lost...the pressure and stress are settling in.
It was almost like winter time again, with ashes from the
forest fire dropping all around like snow flakes. The huge
cloud of smoke rose over the mountains just to the west of us...I don't think I've ever been so close...
Time to put the
nursery together.
So we're just over a month away from the due date. Am I nervous? Not really. Should I be? I don't know. I feel like I have been preparing most of my life for this. Growing up, when I was made to do something I didn't want to do, or was told that I couldn't do what I wanted to do, I would look at it from a parent's perspective to determine how I would handle it. Am I ready? Absolutely!
Speaking of hook'em, how about that
Texas Longhorn baseball team? They've made it to the NCAAA Super Regionals. They play Penn State this coming weekend in a best of 3 series for the right to go to the
College World Series.
It's about
time! Hook'em!
So I slacked and didn't post anything yesterday. I
suck. Actually, Gidgit and I were with my Grandparents in the mountains attending a Memorial Day service for the
10th Mountain Division.
What's up Bryan? The Romp huh?
How many games will it take for the finals? Go Stars!
Surf on over to the romp.
My grandparent's are coming for a visit today. They'll be here until Tuesday morning. I've stayed with them hundreds of times, but this is the first time they've ever stayed with me. I have such fond memories of waking up at Grandma and Grandpa's, I hope their stay is enjoyable.
Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row...advance to Stanley Cup Finals vs. the New Jersey Devils.
Go Stars!
I think I am getting too old for heavy drinking.
Aaron is turning Austin upside down with his mad web dev skills. Good luck with the new gig!
Why do employers always try to screw you when you resign?
Things to do:
- Make the links to the left database driven
- Make the Important Information database driven
- Add functionality to add/edit/delete links
- Add functionality to edit Important Information
- Go to bed
So, I watched the hockey game tonight. Of all the 3 losses for the Stars, this one sucked the most. A freakin' lucky goal off of a knee. Still, a goal's a goal. Can't wait for Game 7.
GO STARS!
Yo! Whassup?!?!
For those of you who frequent my site (I'm not sure why you would), you've probably noticed by now that there have
been some changes. After 3 years, it was finally time. Besides, I don't really use this site anymore for developing
cool new things. Go to Daneman.com or HellaTech.com for that. What you will now find here is this Web Log,
provided by the nice folks at blogger.com.
This Web Log will be used for daily posts about whatever. It doesn't matter. If I want to post it, then that is what
it is about.
Some days there might be multiple posts, who knows? I don't. That's it for today. Peace.
