Since I/we (the family) have made a fairly drastic change in our lives, I thought I would give the “Year One” run down.
In pictures only.
HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc0010e8000-1-HBHB My first day at work, and the last time I showed up before 8am!
HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc0010e8000-2-HBHB The room I rented while the family was in antioch was a real gem. The manager of the home ripped the bathroom out after he cashed my first check. Read More...
HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc0008b9400-1-HBHB Owen and Caralyne playing at the beach
I always felt very proud that this site was “free” to everyone. I think its great when you can go to a site that isn’t laden with advertisements or pop-ups that try to sell you more things you don’t need. Sort of like how the internet used to be.
I regret to say, I’m going to compromise my ideology and give Google Adsense a try. Read More...
Over the past year or so, Caralyne has become increasingly interested in scientastical things like computers, Minecraft, Robots, Mythbusters, and specifically, Mythbusters!
I’ve been using our TV for my own nefarious deeds, unbeknownst to Caralyne, as an educational tool in science and skepticism. Between Good Eats, Mythbusters and a few PBS clips of Neil Degrasse Tyson being awesome, something was bound to stick.
Also, as a daughter and child of mine, she is constantly seeking my affection and approval… which I am not above exploiting these features she no doubt got from me, so I give her a LOT of positive feedback and attention when we are watching these shows. Read More...
I guess I missed writing about last years Christmas in February. I’ll have to try and make up for it right now.
First off though, we didn’t charge the battery for our nice camera. We were not prepared at all this year. So, the nice family portrait was not taken by us this year, and I don’t have a copy.
Here is the other part of my lack of preparedness… I sort of forgot to tell Michele that this was the weekend we were going to my Dads. Read More...
My truck has been leaking power steering fluid for a while. An irresponsibly long while…
A few months back I told my Step Dad (“Big Mike”) about it, so he briefly took a look then recommended that I go ahead and pick up the pressurized hose, and the return line.
Fast forward 6 months, and I finally got them ordered. It took 2 days to get them in. Why it took me so long to do that, I still cannot figure out. Read More...
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Michele and I purposefully did not make any July 4th plans, because we both silently and secretly waited for Steve and Summer to invite us down. We’d mumble back and forth “So, no fireworks in Antioch this year…”, “Yeah, maybe Steve and Summer will invite us down…”. As it got closer to July, there was a possibility that the two of them had other arrangements, and we might have to fend for ourselves! Read More...
I don’t have a central theme with this post, but I wanted to at least do something (it has been a while).
Packet Filter Based on Chris’s “Falling in love with pf(4)” google status, I decided to take the plunge and move off of ipfw(4) to pf(4). I’m not at the point where I could write my one filter, however, I do feel I at least understand what is happening here. Read More...
I don’t have a central theme with this post, but I wanted to at least do something (it has been a while).
Packet Filter Based on Chris’s “Falling in love with pf(4)” google status, I decided to take the plunge and move off of ipfw(4) to pf(4). I’m not at the point where I could write my one filter, however, I do feel I at least understand what is happening here. Read More...
Caralyne spent the night at a friends house Saturday, so after we dropped her off the three of us drove to the peak of Mount Diablo and hung out for a bit.
I got a little queasy on the drive up, and I think Owen did too. Hiking up to the peak was easier in that respect at least : HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc000e57400-1-HBHB Whew, made it to the 1K mark…
HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc000e57400-2-HBHB View at 1K Read More...
One of the unspoken rewards of being a parent is forcing your children to work for you. It is a delicious treat to my eyes, especially when it is a chore that I’ve handled since I was in the 3rd grade:
Mush! HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc00118ea00-1-HBHB
The best part is, Owen still thinks the lawn mower is cool, and exciting. Even the edging tool is fun:
Owen helping Michele HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc00118ea00-2-HBHB
Enough fun mister, back to work! Read More...
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We decided to get out of the house Saturday, and be a little spontaneous, to go out and just do something. After weighing some options and realizing out time constraint (it was already 11am) we chose The Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Well, I chose it, and Caralyne quickly called me out and said “Why do you ALWAYS get to pick?”
It’s simple: cause I’m the adult! Read More...
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Lately, my truck has been stalling when I make a stop. It happens more frequently in the mornings, and while I’m on an upward incline, though it doesn’t seem to matter if I let my truck warm up or take off cold. My Brother-in-Law, Charles, recommended that I replace the spark plugs and check the air filter. His simple statement of “Sure, you could do it…” was enough for me to decide I was going to do all 8 (and he did remind me there were 8, thanks for the vote of confidence Chuck :) ). Read More...
NOOOOOO HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc000842a00-1-HBHB
OOOOOOOO HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc000842a00-2-HBHB
OOOOOOOOO HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc000842a00-3-HBHB
OOOOO!!!!! HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc000842a00-4-HBHB
!!! I came home with Owen last night, it was dark in the house. I was going to Owen’s room to get him ready for bed, and I went to the corner of the room to turn the light on. What I forgot, and didn’t see, was my guitar that I left of the floor. I normally lean it up against my computer, or the wall, but sometimes I’ll leave it on the floor to encourage Owen to play with it. Read More...
A few weeks ago, I was snapping some pictures of Owen in the back yard HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc0010e8f00-1-HBHB Owen outside
And I brought the camera focus on my long time yard nemesis:
HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc0010e8f00-2-HBHB Ugly Palm Tree cluster
No one was home (beside Owen), which means I didn’t have any adult supervision, and I wanted to see how difficult it would be to cut the tree down. I grabbed my small hand saw and cut down one of the trees. Read More...
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Spring has passed, however, our garage didn’t get its fair share of attention. We used it as a staging area for some of the shed materials, and after I had returned the left-overs, we had the beginnings of a clean garage once again.
There are no before pictures, that would be too horrendous; here is what it looks like now, and hopefully will remain that way.
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HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc00091ef00-4-HBHB Read More...
This title sounds like a horror movie title.
We ordered a large 8x12 shed, and oh goody, it arrived on possibly the hottest weekend this month. When Michele went to get lunch, she reported that her car said it was 105, but then cooled off to 101.
I really don’t think I have ever worked that long, and that hard in heat like this. I had my Step Dad (Jim… I mean, Mike) today, and my Father in Law (Curt) yesterday and today. Read More...
I felt cheated today, I had to rush out of the room at 8am to see the iceberg that we were scheduled to see at 11am. I have had to wake up at 7 or so everyday, and the night before I was adamant (with myself anyway, I didn’t express this to anyone else) that I was going to sleep in, this is after all a vacation. Captain Rick had a different plan, and announced on the PA system at 8 that we were about to depart from the iceberg and head to Victora, BC, after another two days at sea. Read More...
Both Juneau and Skagway are tourist towns. the main streets are lined with cheap jewelry stores and gift shops hocking Ammolite stones and the Ulu cutting tool. This “knife” must be incredibly cheap to manufacture, or the cruise ship got a great deal on a bulk purchase. The did a demo of using it, and while the chief hypes it up with how easy it is to chop an onion, the way he holds the blade, by one of the sharp tips itself, seems pretty dangerous. Read More...
Our ship is named “Rhapsody of the Seas”, and I can’t stop re-wording it as Rapture of the Seas, which would be more appropriate for these two days at sea. Most people we came with got sea sick, Michele got sick from the food. I didn’t get sea sick, that part of swaying back and forth doesn’t bother me, I did jog on a treadmill during some pretty choppy waters and that was interesting :) I was also listening to a funny podcast, so I was jogging, balancing, and laughing all at once. Read More...
The previous night I was lucky enough to get out for a jog :) and Portland is pretty nice, that is until I hit a truck stop type of road (which is odd, I guess I just naturally find myself in this places). I made a full circle back to the hotel at that point anyway, so the jog was shorter than I had wanted (and I ended up adding 30 minutes to the total on a treadmill that night), but it was nice to get out and see some of Portland and not get completely lost. Read More...
The drive to Portland was really nice. The best part about drive NORTH on I5 from California, is that it gets prettier the farther you go. Oregon is a beautiful state, I’m really going to dislike the drive back home (view wise that is, otherwise, I’ll be ready :) ).
We had timed it really well, we left right before Owen was ready for a nap. He slept most of the way, and then we kept him busy with a bottle and toys. Read More...
Sunday we celebrated Easter, as well as Owens 1st birthday (its really April 22nd, but we took advantage of having most of the family in one place), at my parents place in Knightsen.
Here is a link to the gallery on my other site, m87-blackhole.org: http://m87-blackhole.org/photos/2009-04-12-easter/
I also took some pictures of my parents house in the making. It is starting to shape up nicely, my step dad is a pretty talented carpenter. Read More...
Sunday we celebrated Easter, as well as Owens 1st birthday (its really April 22nd, but we took advantage of having most of the family in one place), at my parents place in Knightsen.
Here is a link to the gallery on my other site, m87-blackhole.org: http://m87-blackhole.org/photos/2009-04-12-easter/
I also took some pictures of my parents house in the making. It is starting to shape up nicely, my step dad is a pretty talented carpenter. Read More...
Group photo HAHAHUGOSHORTCODE-0xc000e6a000-1-HBHB
My Dad and I are very similar, one of those similar traits is that we procrastinate and push things like Christmas off until ALMOST March :)
This get together worked out last year, so we did it again. The traditional holiday schedule is so crazy and overwhelming (especially for an introvert) that it is miserable to try and cram everything in within a few days. With us getting together two months after settling down from the real event, its nice and relaxing and we get to have Pizza without worrying that the place will close due to a holiday. Read More...
I put up two new gallaries on my main site
http://m87-blackhole.org/photos/ One is of the server rebuild and the other is of the family (mostly Owen).
Both Owen and Caralyne keep michele and I very busy. For instance, right now I’m typing this up as Owen is taking a short nap and Caralyne us playing a computer game. I may try and workout, but the little guy is already stirring and Michele wanted to take a nap so I don’t have any coverage. Read More...
The past few weeks have been pretty busy, Owen is still in the hospital (and we expect him to stay there another two weeks) and his collapsed lung has healed up. Now they doctors are getting him off the pain medication (down to morphine now), helping him feed on his own, and get his bilirubin resolved. We’ve been going to see him everyday, and we were finally able to hold him last week. Read More...
My little boy was born ( 04/22/2008 @ 10:25am ), at a nice healthy weight of 7lbs and 13oz with a height of 20” ( all in all, almost exactly what Caralyne was, she was 21.25”)
We don’t have him home yet, and I’m sure I’ve keep almost everyone up to day, but he has a collapsed lung, or pneumothorax. This happens a lot, but most of the time it’s a tiny hole and the body just absorbs the escaping air and the lung heals within a day or so. Read More...