Lorelai was awake and standing up in her crib this morning before I left. I just watched her from the doorway. So cute. She was trying to sleep standing up I think, and kept rubbing her nose with her blanket. She sounded really stuffy. A couple of times she made little sounds that Reece responded to, even though I think he was asleep. He really doesn’t sleep very deeply. I was a little late getting out of the house because I stood there so long.
Watched a movie last night - The Kingdom with Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper and Jennifer GArner. Pretty violent, but a great plot, well scripted, acted and directed. Didn't feel great at the end of the movie, but it did keep me watching.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
So where the heck have I been?
Okay, okay, I know I've been gone a while. I wouldn't doubt if many readers have stopped visiting. I don't blame you. Life has just been changing a little bit.
Like I said in one of my last posts, I started a new job, and have been focused on getting up to speed on technology so I can be effective in my new role as a lead systems architect. Well, I don't know how effective I am, but I have been keeping to my word about studying my ass off. I've finished three technical books (one over 1500 pages), read god knows how many web sites, and spent my work days cramming as much into my brain as possible. I've been working on ASP.NET 3.5, CSS, LINQ, SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server Reporting Services. Yay for me.
To relax, I've spent time reading (probably 7-8 novels/books since Christmas), and playing with the kids. (I'll get to them in a minute, hold yer horses). I just finished a reread of one of my favorite books from my childhood, Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat, which wasn't as great as I remembered, but was still a good story. I also finished the last of the Sharpe's Rifles series by Bernard Cornwell (22 books plus short stories in that series that I've read over the past 2 or 3 years), and six books from SM Stirling, which I started last fall. I also read a book called Life In a Medieval Village, which was quite dry, but interesting at times. Basically, I've been a reading machine since I started riding the train. It helps that the writers strike has made TV pretty much irrelevant so I have time at night as well. I don't really miss TV.
I've got a lot more technical reading to do over the next couple of months, but I will try to intersperse it more with something fun. I read for at least 2 hours a day, sometimes longer if I need to, and I think it is paying off. My confidence in my skills is growing, and I really feel that I made the right decision to leave my old job.
The kids are doing great. Both are walking/running around the house. Both have 'Mama' and 'Dada' down pat, and both know that a cow says 'Moo', though Lorelai says it more with a "Mllllll' sound. Her tongue gets in the way a bit.
We went out last Saturday after to a Rhododendron garden nearby to buy some plants for our yard, and they just loved running around by themselves. Reece is high speed all the time, and I spent the time there chasing after him. He just loves being outside. Fortunately, the weather has been great here for the past week, and they've been outside a lot.
Our nanny took them to play time last week at the local elementary school gymnasium, and they both seemed to like it. They were a little in shock, with 30 kids running around, from the sounds of it. Boys kept coming up and hugging Lorelai, which I guess was okay until one of them knocked her down. Reece wasn't used to kids taking toys away from him, since he is usually the taker, but he survived as well. I really wish I could have been there to see it.
We're getting more photos done tomorrow, which is great, except both kids have bruises on their faces from recent falls. Hopefully they can touch that up.
Lorelai is our reader and constantly walks around with a book in her hand, looking for someone to read to her. She's also practicing all the sweet facial expressions and actions to bend us to her will. She loves to lay her head down on whatever is nearby and flash those huge eyes and big eyelashes. I don't know where she learned that from.
Reece is just go go go all the time. He's sweet too, and loves to cuddle, for a minute, then he's off again running circles around the living room. He likes to be thrown high up into the air, and loves to wrestle. He is all boy.
Lisa is doing well, just enjoying her time with the kids. She started talking about doing some blog posting here as well, so she may drop in from time to time to post pictures of the kids. I'll believe it when I see it.
The other thing I have started to do again is write. I have a story in my head, and it's just begging to come out, so I've been spending some time getting it down. I know it's not very good yet, but writing is something you need to practice, and that's what I'm doing. I would really like to get to the point where I could write for a living, but I need to get some success under my belt first. Maybe if I wrote a seven book series about a boy wizard....
Anyway, I'm hoping I may have more time to be blogging in the near future. Things are just settling down, and I'm into a routine where writing is becoming more important in my life again. Of course, the good weather and longer days are just around the corner, then who knows what will happen. We'll see.
Like I said in one of my last posts, I started a new job, and have been focused on getting up to speed on technology so I can be effective in my new role as a lead systems architect. Well, I don't know how effective I am, but I have been keeping to my word about studying my ass off. I've finished three technical books (one over 1500 pages), read god knows how many web sites, and spent my work days cramming as much into my brain as possible. I've been working on ASP.NET 3.5, CSS, LINQ, SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server Reporting Services. Yay for me.
To relax, I've spent time reading (probably 7-8 novels/books since Christmas), and playing with the kids. (I'll get to them in a minute, hold yer horses). I just finished a reread of one of my favorite books from my childhood, Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat, which wasn't as great as I remembered, but was still a good story. I also finished the last of the Sharpe's Rifles series by Bernard Cornwell (22 books plus short stories in that series that I've read over the past 2 or 3 years), and six books from SM Stirling, which I started last fall. I also read a book called Life In a Medieval Village, which was quite dry, but interesting at times. Basically, I've been a reading machine since I started riding the train. It helps that the writers strike has made TV pretty much irrelevant so I have time at night as well. I don't really miss TV.
I've got a lot more technical reading to do over the next couple of months, but I will try to intersperse it more with something fun. I read for at least 2 hours a day, sometimes longer if I need to, and I think it is paying off. My confidence in my skills is growing, and I really feel that I made the right decision to leave my old job.
The kids are doing great. Both are walking/running around the house. Both have 'Mama' and 'Dada' down pat, and both know that a cow says 'Moo', though Lorelai says it more with a "Mllllll' sound. Her tongue gets in the way a bit.
We went out last Saturday after to a Rhododendron garden nearby to buy some plants for our yard, and they just loved running around by themselves. Reece is high speed all the time, and I spent the time there chasing after him. He just loves being outside. Fortunately, the weather has been great here for the past week, and they've been outside a lot.
Our nanny took them to play time last week at the local elementary school gymnasium, and they both seemed to like it. They were a little in shock, with 30 kids running around, from the sounds of it. Boys kept coming up and hugging Lorelai, which I guess was okay until one of them knocked her down. Reece wasn't used to kids taking toys away from him, since he is usually the taker, but he survived as well. I really wish I could have been there to see it.
We're getting more photos done tomorrow, which is great, except both kids have bruises on their faces from recent falls. Hopefully they can touch that up.
Lorelai is our reader and constantly walks around with a book in her hand, looking for someone to read to her. She's also practicing all the sweet facial expressions and actions to bend us to her will. She loves to lay her head down on whatever is nearby and flash those huge eyes and big eyelashes. I don't know where she learned that from.
Reece is just go go go all the time. He's sweet too, and loves to cuddle, for a minute, then he's off again running circles around the living room. He likes to be thrown high up into the air, and loves to wrestle. He is all boy.
Lisa is doing well, just enjoying her time with the kids. She started talking about doing some blog posting here as well, so she may drop in from time to time to post pictures of the kids. I'll believe it when I see it.
The other thing I have started to do again is write. I have a story in my head, and it's just begging to come out, so I've been spending some time getting it down. I know it's not very good yet, but writing is something you need to practice, and that's what I'm doing. I would really like to get to the point where I could write for a living, but I need to get some success under my belt first. Maybe if I wrote a seven book series about a boy wizard....
Anyway, I'm hoping I may have more time to be blogging in the near future. Things are just settling down, and I'm into a routine where writing is becoming more important in my life again. Of course, the good weather and longer days are just around the corner, then who knows what will happen. We'll see.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Birthday Pictures
Just to thoroughly confuse the kids, we held a surprise birthday party for the twins on Sunday. Not only was this not their actual birthday, they didn't even know what a party involved. By far, the biggest hit of the day were the balloons that Courtney brought. Reece nearly, actually did, fall over with excitement. Lorelai was also quite thrilled.
We had all the grandparents here, as well as their Aunt Katy and Courtney of course. Here are some pictures of the occassion. Note that both Mommy and Daddy were quite busy (and taking videos) so there aren't many still shots, though other may have some they may wish to provide us with.
We had all the grandparents here, as well as their Aunt Katy and Courtney of course. Here are some pictures of the occassion. Note that both Mommy and Daddy were quite busy (and taking videos) so there aren't many still shots, though other may have some they may wish to provide us with.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Overwhelmed
Well, I'm past the one week mark in my new job, and I am officially overwhelmed. There's a lot to take in, and everything seems so new to me. I can't believe how stale my professional skills have become over the past few years. I don't even know where to begin. It's incredible how much I have to pack into my brain every day, just to try to get up to speed, and I'm not even talking about what I need to know about the customer's systems that I need to design and build. If you thought I wasn't updating my blog enough over the past few months, you will probably be disappointed with the next couple of months. I'm going into lock down mode. 'Back to school' as we are calling it around here.
The people at my new job are all incredibly smart and the place just buzzes with energy. Everyone is a true beliver in what they are doing and that we can get the job done. There is very little of the cynicism or defeatism that infested my last job. Here, if you can't do the work, you won't be there long. It's really driving me to educate myself and get ahead of the curve.
The commute makes for a long day. I get up at 5:00AM to be at the train by 5:40 to get a good parking spot. The train leaves at 6:02, and arrives in Seattle at 6:50. From there it's up the stairs, across the street, around the corner and down the stairs to the bus tunnel. Hop on the closest bus, take it 3 stops. Off the bus, up 3 escalators, walk about 5 blocks (jay walk when you can or you'll be there forever), up four flights of stairs, and you're there. Normal time, about 7:05 AM.
I leave the office between 3:50 and 3:55 and reverse the route to get to the train which leaves at 4:20, and I arrive at home around 5:15PM. The total time in transit is about 3 hours a day, which is about double what it used to take me to get to my last job, but so far I've read 2 books and 2 magazines (1 technical book, 2 technical mags and one novel). I consider that time well spent.
I do really miss the hour and a half to two hours a day I was spending with the kids in the afternoon, and by Friday last week, I was ready for the weekend, which was again far too full for our liking. But I try to make the evening time and the time on the weekend quality time as much as possible. We did put a brighter nightlight in their room so I can see them before I leave in the morning, and I turned one of our leftover Christmas cards into a bookmark. It's not a substitute, but it helps.
Anyway, it's far more likely that my other blog (devscape.blogspot.com) will see more action in the coming weeks than this one will, as I document some of the techincal stuff I am learning. If you are really interested in design patterns, LIQ, SQL Server 2005, ASP.NET 3.5, Sharepoint, CSLA, EntityFrameworks, etc, please feel free to stop by and comment, or give me crap for not posting there either.
Otherwise, I'll try to post here when I can, and when I have the energy.
The people at my new job are all incredibly smart and the place just buzzes with energy. Everyone is a true beliver in what they are doing and that we can get the job done. There is very little of the cynicism or defeatism that infested my last job. Here, if you can't do the work, you won't be there long. It's really driving me to educate myself and get ahead of the curve.
The commute makes for a long day. I get up at 5:00AM to be at the train by 5:40 to get a good parking spot. The train leaves at 6:02, and arrives in Seattle at 6:50. From there it's up the stairs, across the street, around the corner and down the stairs to the bus tunnel. Hop on the closest bus, take it 3 stops. Off the bus, up 3 escalators, walk about 5 blocks (jay walk when you can or you'll be there forever), up four flights of stairs, and you're there. Normal time, about 7:05 AM.
I leave the office between 3:50 and 3:55 and reverse the route to get to the train which leaves at 4:20, and I arrive at home around 5:15PM. The total time in transit is about 3 hours a day, which is about double what it used to take me to get to my last job, but so far I've read 2 books and 2 magazines (1 technical book, 2 technical mags and one novel). I consider that time well spent.
I do really miss the hour and a half to two hours a day I was spending with the kids in the afternoon, and by Friday last week, I was ready for the weekend, which was again far too full for our liking. But I try to make the evening time and the time on the weekend quality time as much as possible. We did put a brighter nightlight in their room so I can see them before I leave in the morning, and I turned one of our leftover Christmas cards into a bookmark. It's not a substitute, but it helps.
Anyway, it's far more likely that my other blog (devscape.blogspot.com) will see more action in the coming weeks than this one will, as I document some of the techincal stuff I am learning. If you are really interested in design patterns, LIQ, SQL Server 2005, ASP.NET 3.5, Sharepoint, CSLA, EntityFrameworks, etc, please feel free to stop by and comment, or give me crap for not posting there either.
Otherwise, I'll try to post here when I can, and when I have the energy.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Getting Organized
Maybe its that I'm switching jobs and I feel the need to get some projects done at home before my life changes. Or maybe its the middle of winter and there's nothing on TV due to the writers strike. Maybe I'm going through a mid-life crisis. Or maybe I'm just procrastinating from getting started writing that story or novel. Whatever the cause, the result is I've been getting organized and checking some things off my to do list.
On Monday, I cleaned out the garage.
Yesterday, I took my entire collection of photo negatives in to a camera store to get digitized onto CD's
I finally arranged to get flood insurance for the house.
I've been researching Life Insurance
I've been working on my will (some day I'll get Lisa to do hers too)
And I've gone through an old book of photos of my early childhood years that my mom gave me a few years ago, and digitized them. You can see the results on our flickr site or by clicking here.
Next is the process of making DVDs of all the videos we taken of the kids over the past year. Actually, I was all caught up a few weeks ago and had the video ready to burn to DVD when my Windows Vista crapped out on me and corrupted my compiled movie. I lost all my work, about 16 hours. Anyway, Vista is a piece of crap operating system, and had I not just bought a new computer last summer, I would be buying a Mac right now, despite the fact that I develop Windows software for a living.
On Monday, I cleaned out the garage.
Yesterday, I took my entire collection of photo negatives in to a camera store to get digitized onto CD's
I finally arranged to get flood insurance for the house.
I've been researching Life Insurance
I've been working on my will (some day I'll get Lisa to do hers too)
And I've gone through an old book of photos of my early childhood years that my mom gave me a few years ago, and digitized them. You can see the results on our flickr site or by clicking here.
Next is the process of making DVDs of all the videos we taken of the kids over the past year. Actually, I was all caught up a few weeks ago and had the video ready to burn to DVD when my Windows Vista crapped out on me and corrupted my compiled movie. I lost all my work, about 16 hours. Anyway, Vista is a piece of crap operating system, and had I not just bought a new computer last summer, I would be buying a Mac right now, despite the fact that I develop Windows software for a living.
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