Wow, it sure is easy to forget about your Blog when you get busy.
Work has been very busy lately, which is good. Better than the alternative at any rate.
I have made some time for some fun though. I picked up a copy of Guitar Hero World Tour and have played that a few times with a group of friends. It's pretty fun. Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals. I find the drums to be pretty hard, but one of my friends is pretty good at it.
I've done all four, but my preference is either guitar or bass, most songs being easier on bass than on the guitar, but there are a few that are the other way around.
Do you know that Guitar Hero franchise has made over 2 billion dollars? Man, I've got to make time to learn how to write games. It would be so cool to write a game that millions of people want to play, even if it didn't make any money. Although, how much cooler would it be to be able to make your living and secure your retirement by writing a game?
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Has it been that long already?
Man, how time flies when you're having fun. Or working a lot.
Anyway, this entry I thought I talk a little about some of the books I've been reading lately. I'm a bit of a bookworm and Terry Brooks is one of my favorite authors, an incredible story teller, with great stories to tell. I started reading the Genesis of Shannara series about a year ago, the third book having just been released last month, which I'm almost done with. I also started reading the Word and the Void once I had finished the second book in the Genesis series and had a year to wait for the third. In both of these series', the world is facing some serious challenges. The Word and Void takes place first, in which times are tough and the world is headed for certain disaster. In both of these sets of books, their is the Void and the demons that it uses to fight for its cause and there is the Word and the Knights of the Word that it uses to fight for its cause.
Here's where it gets interesting. The demons don't work the way you might think, they work by cunning, trickery and subtle means. Spending years on a plan that slowly comes together and snowballs with terrific force. The good do what they can to prevent this, but often discover too late the real intents of the tricky demons. Just when they think they are one step ahead, it turns out they are actually two steps behind.
I find the stories riveting and many good people die, just as you'd expect in real life fights of good versus evil.
And on that note, what is good and what is evil? The men that brought about the collapse of the twin towers did so in the name of their God, claiming to be fighting the good fight. I do not believe it though, I believe they are evil. That anyone who preys on those who are weaker are evil and those who fight to defend the week are generally good. Many good lives are lost in the fight between good and evil, it is sad, but it is also reality.
Right now, I have a brother in Iraq, fighting the good fight and, God willing, he will return home unharmed at the end of his tour. I do not like the fighting, I wish it could just end, but I realize that isn't going to happen when children are taught from birth to hate others. I encourage anyone who reads this to do their part not to influence any child to hate another human being, for any reason.
And for those looking for a good read, Terry Brooks comes highly recommended. He has many different types of stories and all are fascinating, well told and typically offer excellent metaphors about life, the world and human nature.
Anyway, this entry I thought I talk a little about some of the books I've been reading lately. I'm a bit of a bookworm and Terry Brooks is one of my favorite authors, an incredible story teller, with great stories to tell. I started reading the Genesis of Shannara series about a year ago, the third book having just been released last month, which I'm almost done with. I also started reading the Word and the Void once I had finished the second book in the Genesis series and had a year to wait for the third. In both of these series', the world is facing some serious challenges. The Word and Void takes place first, in which times are tough and the world is headed for certain disaster. In both of these sets of books, their is the Void and the demons that it uses to fight for its cause and there is the Word and the Knights of the Word that it uses to fight for its cause.
Here's where it gets interesting. The demons don't work the way you might think, they work by cunning, trickery and subtle means. Spending years on a plan that slowly comes together and snowballs with terrific force. The good do what they can to prevent this, but often discover too late the real intents of the tricky demons. Just when they think they are one step ahead, it turns out they are actually two steps behind.
I find the stories riveting and many good people die, just as you'd expect in real life fights of good versus evil.
And on that note, what is good and what is evil? The men that brought about the collapse of the twin towers did so in the name of their God, claiming to be fighting the good fight. I do not believe it though, I believe they are evil. That anyone who preys on those who are weaker are evil and those who fight to defend the week are generally good. Many good lives are lost in the fight between good and evil, it is sad, but it is also reality.
Right now, I have a brother in Iraq, fighting the good fight and, God willing, he will return home unharmed at the end of his tour. I do not like the fighting, I wish it could just end, but I realize that isn't going to happen when children are taught from birth to hate others. I encourage anyone who reads this to do their part not to influence any child to hate another human being, for any reason.
And for those looking for a good read, Terry Brooks comes highly recommended. He has many different types of stories and all are fascinating, well told and typically offer excellent metaphors about life, the world and human nature.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Checking in
So it's been almost a month since my last post. I haven't been doing much but work lately. Things have been very busy and I find myself starting work sometime between 5 and 6 in the morning and ending around 9 or 10 at night. It's been a little rough, but I knew I'd have to go through this sort of thing to get my company off the ground.
Hopefully the big projects will come and things will get a little more stable and consistent.
Hopefully the big projects will come and things will get a little more stable and consistent.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sure enough
Well, that last goal I set of gaining one pound in two weeks isn't holding up so well at present. Currenly I have to gain two pounds to get there.
I need to find somehting else to write about now, this Wii fit related thread is getting old and my weight really isn't changing all that much. I'll sound off on that again later if anything a bit more significant happens.
In the mean time, other things that have been happening lately are that my grandmother (my dad's mother) passed away late last Thursday night. She and my grandfather had been married for almost 60 years, so it must be hard on him to lose his long time companion. I've only been married a little over 10 years and it would be a pretty hard adjustment for me to make, so hopefully I'll never have to.
I need to find somehting else to write about now, this Wii fit related thread is getting old and my weight really isn't changing all that much. I'll sound off on that again later if anything a bit more significant happens.
In the mean time, other things that have been happening lately are that my grandmother (my dad's mother) passed away late last Thursday night. She and my grandfather had been married for almost 60 years, so it must be hard on him to lose his long time companion. I've only been married a little over 10 years and it would be a pretty hard adjustment for me to make, so hopefully I'll never have to.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I did it
Well, I hit my goal of gaining two pounds and I did it week early. Some of you may think that's no big deal, but for me, gaining two pounds in one week is quite an accomplishment. I've set another goal to gain one more pound within the next two weeks. We'll see if I can hit that or if I backslide and drop below my previous goal.
Although, I've been so busy with work lately that I've really been slacking on my exercise program. I'll have to try to make up for that tomorrow, which could have an adverse affect on my recent weight gains, but I'd rather keep myself in good shape, even if it means I have to lose a few pounds.
Although, I've been so busy with work lately that I've really been slacking on my exercise program. I'll have to try to make up for that tomorrow, which could have an adverse affect on my recent weight gains, but I'd rather keep myself in good shape, even if it means I have to lose a few pounds.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Guitar Hero
Yesterday my company did a booth at the Farr West Freedom Festival, a small city celebration for Independence Day. My original plan was to have people box each other using the Wii and my sister in law made up a poster for me that said "Fight a friend to help a stranger" and had pictures of boxing gloves on it. (The explanation here is that all proceeds from the booth will be donated to the Humanitarian Aid Fund, the same fund that supplied food, blankets and other items to the victims of hurricane Katrina long before FEMA and had said items ready to go before the hurricane made landfall)
Anyway, for those who haven't played Wii boxing, it can be exhausting and you can work up a sweat even when playing in a cool basement. When I learned it was going to be 102 on the 4th, I decided it would be best to take a different approach, lest I be the target of several wrongful death lawsuits by family members of those who collapsed as a result of engaging in such an activity in such conditions. So, plan B ended up being to play Guitar Hero, a fun game that mimics playing the guitar (although I must say, not very realistically) and the object of the game is to follow the onscreen action to hit the right notes at the right times. It is a very fun game, despite, or perhaps even because of, its lack of realism.
It went fairly well, despite the heat and we saw some kids that were pretty darn good at the game. Although, the best score I saw all day was 89 thousand points. Seems there was a Guitar Hero champion ship recently and the winner, a 14 year old boy, got 890 thousand points. Ten times the best that I saw, which was already mind-boggling. The song played is called, "Through the fire and flames". If you can find a clip of it online, listen to the guitar part and think of how tricky it would be to play such a song.
I can't help but wonder if that kid does anything other than play Guitar Hero...
Anyway, for those who haven't played Wii boxing, it can be exhausting and you can work up a sweat even when playing in a cool basement. When I learned it was going to be 102 on the 4th, I decided it would be best to take a different approach, lest I be the target of several wrongful death lawsuits by family members of those who collapsed as a result of engaging in such an activity in such conditions. So, plan B ended up being to play Guitar Hero, a fun game that mimics playing the guitar (although I must say, not very realistically) and the object of the game is to follow the onscreen action to hit the right notes at the right times. It is a very fun game, despite, or perhaps even because of, its lack of realism.
It went fairly well, despite the heat and we saw some kids that were pretty darn good at the game. Although, the best score I saw all day was 89 thousand points. Seems there was a Guitar Hero champion ship recently and the winner, a 14 year old boy, got 890 thousand points. Ten times the best that I saw, which was already mind-boggling. The song played is called, "Through the fire and flames". If you can find a clip of it online, listen to the guitar part and think of how tricky it would be to play such a song.
I can't help but wonder if that kid does anything other than play Guitar Hero...
Monday, June 23, 2008
Didn't make my goal
Well, I had put in a 2-week goal in my Wii fit profile to gain 5 pounds in two weeks, but wasn't able to do it. At the end of the two weeks, I was exactly the same weight. So, I've put in a new goal to try and gain 2 pounds in two weeks. We'll see if I can pull that one off.
It seems like when it comes to a change in weight, this is the order of difficulty:
Put on weight by storing more fat (all you have to do in order to do this is to consume more calories than you burn and if you don't move around much, you can probably get by on burning only 1200 or 1500 colories per day, depending on your metabolism of course)
Lose weight (this is just the opposite, you just have to consume less calories than you burn. So, if you limit your intake to 1000 calories per day, but excercise such that you burn at least 2000 calories per day, then you'll lose a pound about every three or four days)
Gain weight by building muscle (this seems to be the hardest to do. In order to build muscle, you have to work out, which burns calories, but in order to gain weight you still have to take in more calories than you burn.)
That may seem like an oversimplification, but the math I believe is 1 pound = 3500 calories (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that), so in order for me to gain 2 pounds, I'll have to consume 7000 more calories than I burn. For me, that may prove to be tough.
We'll see how it goes.
It seems like when it comes to a change in weight, this is the order of difficulty:
Put on weight by storing more fat (all you have to do in order to do this is to consume more calories than you burn and if you don't move around much, you can probably get by on burning only 1200 or 1500 colories per day, depending on your metabolism of course)
Lose weight (this is just the opposite, you just have to consume less calories than you burn. So, if you limit your intake to 1000 calories per day, but excercise such that you burn at least 2000 calories per day, then you'll lose a pound about every three or four days)
Gain weight by building muscle (this seems to be the hardest to do. In order to build muscle, you have to work out, which burns calories, but in order to gain weight you still have to take in more calories than you burn.)
That may seem like an oversimplification, but the math I believe is 1 pound = 3500 calories (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that), so in order for me to gain 2 pounds, I'll have to consume 7000 more calories than I burn. For me, that may prove to be tough.
We'll see how it goes.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Mii fitness
I've been playing Wii fit every day for the last few days and starting to get a little better at the various games. I'm still not real consistent with all of the different activities and some of them still give me problems (I do terrible with the bubble balance one, haven't been able to get all the way through it yet). I just unlocked the snowboarding one this morning, but I must say, I don't like it as much as the skiing one.
They are fun games though and can help keep you motivate to work out. Which, at least for me, really helps stick to a fitness program. It's far too easy to be too busy or tired to exercise and just be a couch potato.
I've learned that my balance and agility isn't so great though, so I'm really going to focus on those areas and see if I can't improve.
They are fun games though and can help keep you motivate to work out. Which, at least for me, really helps stick to a fitness program. It's far too easy to be too busy or tired to exercise and just be a couch potato.
I've learned that my balance and agility isn't so great though, so I'm really going to focus on those areas and see if I can't improve.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
More toys
We have a Wii that my wife bought back when they first came out (she was actually able to get one at retail price without having to camp out for three days in a Walmart parking lot), which is fun and the kids enjoy playing with it too. But just this past weekend, she bought the Wii fit game and balance board. So of course we had to play around with it over the weekend.
It has two different skiing games (or at least those are the only two I've seen so far), one that is a slalom through gates and the other that is a jump. Now, I love to ski and although I admit I am certainly no expert, I can make my way down the slope and go where I intend to go most of the time. But in this slalom game, it is so sensitive to movement that I found myself just all over the place and couldn't get through the gates to save my life. I think at my best I still missed at least 5 gates.
But the jump, I got that pretty good. All you have to do on that one is duck down a bit and lean forward so that your weight is distributed a certain way to pick up speed as you go down the hill, then, when you hit the jump point, you have to stand up straight (quickly) and stay as still as you can. If you do those things, you'll get a good jump score.
I was never able to get a score of more than one star (which it seems has a rank of "unbalanced", maybe "unhinged" was the word they were looking for...) on the slalom, but got three stars right off the bat in the jump.
We've just used it the one time so far, but it can calculate your weight and after you tell it how tall you are, also calculates your BMI. We got the whole family registered on it, confirming what I already knew, my wife and kids both fall right in the middle of the "normal" range and I'm in the "underweight" category. So I set a goal for my character to put on a few pounds in a couple of weeks. We'll see how that ends up going.
It should provide a little extra motivation though, as it plots how you are doing and you can see your trends over time. Now I just have to remember to use it at least once every week (preferably three times)
It has two different skiing games (or at least those are the only two I've seen so far), one that is a slalom through gates and the other that is a jump. Now, I love to ski and although I admit I am certainly no expert, I can make my way down the slope and go where I intend to go most of the time. But in this slalom game, it is so sensitive to movement that I found myself just all over the place and couldn't get through the gates to save my life. I think at my best I still missed at least 5 gates.
But the jump, I got that pretty good. All you have to do on that one is duck down a bit and lean forward so that your weight is distributed a certain way to pick up speed as you go down the hill, then, when you hit the jump point, you have to stand up straight (quickly) and stay as still as you can. If you do those things, you'll get a good jump score.
I was never able to get a score of more than one star (which it seems has a rank of "unbalanced", maybe "unhinged" was the word they were looking for...) on the slalom, but got three stars right off the bat in the jump.
We've just used it the one time so far, but it can calculate your weight and after you tell it how tall you are, also calculates your BMI. We got the whole family registered on it, confirming what I already knew, my wife and kids both fall right in the middle of the "normal" range and I'm in the "underweight" category. So I set a goal for my character to put on a few pounds in a couple of weeks. We'll see how that ends up going.
It should provide a little extra motivation though, as it plots how you are doing and you can see your trends over time. Now I just have to remember to use it at least once every week (preferably three times)
Saturday, June 7, 2008
All work and no play make Doobie a dull boy
This past week has been pretty rough work wise. I worked ten to twelve hours every day, except for Saturday and Sunday when I worked eight and four hours respectively. I'm almost done with this project though, so that's good.
The frustrating part is when you're just spinning your wheels. I know I'll get blasted by all of the Java disciples for saying this, but working with Java again this past week after having not used it in a few years really makes me appreciate C# and the .Net framework.
Yeah, Java is a good platform and the syntax of the language itself is also good, but the utilities and plugins and trying to get everything configured right and playing nice just makes me crazy. Sure, it can be done and there seem to be people out there who prefer it, but .Net is so much more straightforward when it comes to all that sort of thing.
Okay, enough complaining and time to get back to work.
I'll sound off later.
The frustrating part is when you're just spinning your wheels. I know I'll get blasted by all of the Java disciples for saying this, but working with Java again this past week after having not used it in a few years really makes me appreciate C# and the .Net framework.
Yeah, Java is a good platform and the syntax of the language itself is also good, but the utilities and plugins and trying to get everything configured right and playing nice just makes me crazy. Sure, it can be done and there seem to be people out there who prefer it, but .Net is so much more straightforward when it comes to all that sort of thing.
Okay, enough complaining and time to get back to work.
I'll sound off later.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Toys
Toys are great. They can really make life fun and they come in all different shapes and sizes.
Friday night we had some friends over and played Big Brain Academy on the Nintendo Wii. It's a very fun game, challenging you with different categories such as Visual, Memorize and Compute. I used to have the highest score, but one of my friends beat me by 30 points (1361 versus 1331) so I've got some training and retesting to do to see if I can regain the top spot. Granted, I'm sure that plenty of people out there have a lot higher scores than that (feel free to leave comments about your high score if you feel so inclined) but considering I play it so infrequently, I feel okay with those results.
Anyway, yesterday I mowed the lawn using another toy. My wife bought a John Deere riding mower. More of small tractor with a mowing blade on it really. The thing is pretty sweet. It has 4 wheel steering and cruise control. Yeah, you read right. Cruise control. On a lawn mower. I had no idea they had such a thing. At any rate, I can do the lawn in like 20 minutes with that thing. I use the same kind of pattern as a Zamboni refinishing the ice between periods.
Yeah, toys are fun.
Friday night we had some friends over and played Big Brain Academy on the Nintendo Wii. It's a very fun game, challenging you with different categories such as Visual, Memorize and Compute. I used to have the highest score, but one of my friends beat me by 30 points (1361 versus 1331) so I've got some training and retesting to do to see if I can regain the top spot. Granted, I'm sure that plenty of people out there have a lot higher scores than that (feel free to leave comments about your high score if you feel so inclined) but considering I play it so infrequently, I feel okay with those results.
Anyway, yesterday I mowed the lawn using another toy. My wife bought a John Deere riding mower. More of small tractor with a mowing blade on it really. The thing is pretty sweet. It has 4 wheel steering and cruise control. Yeah, you read right. Cruise control. On a lawn mower. I had no idea they had such a thing. At any rate, I can do the lawn in like 20 minutes with that thing. I use the same kind of pattern as a Zamboni refinishing the ice between periods.
Yeah, toys are fun.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Weather
This topic is one we seem to have in common with everyone all over the world. Granted, the weather might vary greatly from one part of the world to another, but it is still either too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry.
Over the weekend and on Monday it was too hot and too dry. Yesterday wasn't bad and then today was just plain too cold, too wet and too windy. It's odd how we can get a 30+ degree temperature swing in less than 24 hours. Just goes to show that for all of the amazing things we've been able to come up with as humans, can't even come close to the power of nature.
This time of year we have a lot of snow melt and run-off and as a result, rivers are higher and faster than any other time of the year and can be quite dangerous at times. It seems as if a distant relative may have drowned in such conditions over the weekend. The theory is he tried to pull up his anchor, fell in and was swept away. It seems the conditions were so bad, they didn't want to send in divers to look for the body. That's saying something when it is too risky for experienced divers.
Camping is one of the favorite activities in Utah and Memorial day is the unofficial kicking of the camping season, but this is probably one of the most dangerous times to go up into the hills, particularly if you're going to be near any of the rivers and have young children.
Okay, I guess that's enough rambling for now. I'll try to post more later on when I have something to talk about.
Over the weekend and on Monday it was too hot and too dry. Yesterday wasn't bad and then today was just plain too cold, too wet and too windy. It's odd how we can get a 30+ degree temperature swing in less than 24 hours. Just goes to show that for all of the amazing things we've been able to come up with as humans, can't even come close to the power of nature.
This time of year we have a lot of snow melt and run-off and as a result, rivers are higher and faster than any other time of the year and can be quite dangerous at times. It seems as if a distant relative may have drowned in such conditions over the weekend. The theory is he tried to pull up his anchor, fell in and was swept away. It seems the conditions were so bad, they didn't want to send in divers to look for the body. That's saying something when it is too risky for experienced divers.
Camping is one of the favorite activities in Utah and Memorial day is the unofficial kicking of the camping season, but this is probably one of the most dangerous times to go up into the hills, particularly if you're going to be near any of the rivers and have young children.
Okay, I guess that's enough rambling for now. I'll try to post more later on when I have something to talk about.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Spring work
This weekend I did a lot of spring time work. I love spring, things are warming up, plants are coming into bloom, the world is full of life.
Unfortunately, I have allergies, so often times the very things that I find so much joy in looking at can also cause me some discomfort and cost me some sleep.
Yesterday I mowed the lawn, tilled the garden and replaced a sprinkler head. Last night I didn't sleep very well, kept sneezing and had to get up several times to blow my nose. I finally went downstairs and watched some TV for a bit. Typically there isn't much on at 1:30 in the morning, but luckily there was an America's Funniest Videos special, featuring clips about animals which I've also found to be the most entertaining. I don't know, there's just something about a kangaroo kicking a man in the crotch that just cracks me up. Anyway, I woke up with a headache and I'm a little tired today.
Today of course is Mother's day. I saw my mother this morning and wished her a happy Mother's day. I also gave my wife breakfast in bed and, since she isn't my mother, my kids gave her some clothing as a Mother's day gift. A little later I'll go to church and sing with the choir in honer of this special day.
I also got to speak with my little brother, who is currently serving a mission in Germany. Missionaries are only allowed to speak with their families on two days, Christmas and Mother's day. So it was a rare opportunity. He'll be back before next Christmas.
Later today, I'll stop by my grandmother's place and wish her a happy Mother's day as well. Not everyone is lucky enough to have such great family and to live within a short drive of most of them.
Unfortunately, I have allergies, so often times the very things that I find so much joy in looking at can also cause me some discomfort and cost me some sleep.
Yesterday I mowed the lawn, tilled the garden and replaced a sprinkler head. Last night I didn't sleep very well, kept sneezing and had to get up several times to blow my nose. I finally went downstairs and watched some TV for a bit. Typically there isn't much on at 1:30 in the morning, but luckily there was an America's Funniest Videos special, featuring clips about animals which I've also found to be the most entertaining. I don't know, there's just something about a kangaroo kicking a man in the crotch that just cracks me up. Anyway, I woke up with a headache and I'm a little tired today.
Today of course is Mother's day. I saw my mother this morning and wished her a happy Mother's day. I also gave my wife breakfast in bed and, since she isn't my mother, my kids gave her some clothing as a Mother's day gift. A little later I'll go to church and sing with the choir in honer of this special day.
I also got to speak with my little brother, who is currently serving a mission in Germany. Missionaries are only allowed to speak with their families on two days, Christmas and Mother's day. So it was a rare opportunity. He'll be back before next Christmas.
Later today, I'll stop by my grandmother's place and wish her a happy Mother's day as well. Not everyone is lucky enough to have such great family and to live within a short drive of most of them.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Last weekend
Well, last Friday, I (along with half the population of the United States it would seem) went with my wife and some friends to see Iron Man. It was a very good movie, better than I had expected and quite a bit more than the poor super hero knockoff movies that are little more than a fancy custom with lots of special effects. I enjoyed the character development, plot, humor and of course the action and special effects. I would recommend it to anybody.
Saturday I had a baptism, triplets (two boys and one girl), plus one other boy. The one was a little late showing up, so we didn't get started until about 15 minutes after we should have and then the thing ran a little long anyway, so it ended up taking almost twice as long as some others, but it ended up going okay.
Other than some yardwork, that was pretty much my weekend. Two of the other projects that I've been working recently are all but wrapped up and I need to do some bids on some new projects, but it's good to keep busy. Much better than the alternative.
The other movies that I'm really looking forward to are Prince Caspian as well both the new Batman and new Hulk movies, which hopefully will be pretty good. It would be extra nice if one of them can rival Iron Man, but that might be asking a bit much, especially of a sequel.
Saturday I had a baptism, triplets (two boys and one girl), plus one other boy. The one was a little late showing up, so we didn't get started until about 15 minutes after we should have and then the thing ran a little long anyway, so it ended up taking almost twice as long as some others, but it ended up going okay.
Other than some yardwork, that was pretty much my weekend. Two of the other projects that I've been working recently are all but wrapped up and I need to do some bids on some new projects, but it's good to keep busy. Much better than the alternative.
The other movies that I'm really looking forward to are Prince Caspian as well both the new Batman and new Hulk movies, which hopefully will be pretty good. It would be extra nice if one of them can rival Iron Man, but that might be asking a bit much, especially of a sequel.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
A new month
I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post, but then, things have been kind of hectic lately.
Work is going well, plenty to keep me busy there and I've got a few different projects that I'm jumping between, involving different languages.
Last Friday and over the weekend I was writing in PHP, then on Monday it was C#, Tuesday I shifted to JSP and then yesterday I was back on C# again. It can get confusing switching between languages like that, but I think it makes for a better developer if one learns to code in at least two different languages.
Today will likely be mostly C#, although I may end up needing to do some Java as well, depending on test results from one of the projects that I'm working.
This Saturday I'll be baptising triplets, first time I've ever done that and might be the last too.
Work is going well, plenty to keep me busy there and I've got a few different projects that I'm jumping between, involving different languages.
Last Friday and over the weekend I was writing in PHP, then on Monday it was C#, Tuesday I shifted to JSP and then yesterday I was back on C# again. It can get confusing switching between languages like that, but I think it makes for a better developer if one learns to code in at least two different languages.
Today will likely be mostly C#, although I may end up needing to do some Java as well, depending on test results from one of the projects that I'm working.
This Saturday I'll be baptising triplets, first time I've ever done that and might be the last too.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Finally made some time for an update
Wow, that was a crazy busy week. Anyway, I just wanted to post a bit more about the last general conference. The entire thing is available online to either read, watch or listen to. If you want to check it out, you can do so by going here:
http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-851,00.html
I'll just touch on a few of the highlights, or at least the things that stood out to me.
Elder Christofferson talked about how his grandfather was the one that gave him is Patriarchal blessing, which I thought was kind of cool because my grandfather was the one who gave me mine. Not many people have the opportunity to be related to a Patriarch. He also talked about how we should always be willing to have open discussions with those of other faiths.
Elder Child talked about how he once earned twenty dollars as a child and had asked to be paid in silver dollars (those were much more common at the time) and how he put two of them in an envelope to pay his tithing. He stated that paying tithing is the best investment we can make.
Elder Ballard said that there is no role more essential than that of motherhood and that the biggest mistake parents can make is not living in the moment enough. Play with your kids at the park instead of rushing them off to the next event. Parents should focus on their children and not over schedule their children or themselves.
President Monson spoke a few times and of course had many good things to say. Of them though, the things that stood out to me most were him stating that we live in troubled times with lots of affliction, conflict and disasters, but that we can make a difference. We should stand for the right, even if that means we have to stand alone. And we should not permit ourselves to do anything that we wouldn't want our kids to do.
Many good messages were shared, so if you have some time, I urge you to read, listen to, or watch a few of the talks that were given. You may find them more enlightening and/or inspiring than you expect.
http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-851,00.html
I'll just touch on a few of the highlights, or at least the things that stood out to me.
Elder Christofferson talked about how his grandfather was the one that gave him is Patriarchal blessing, which I thought was kind of cool because my grandfather was the one who gave me mine. Not many people have the opportunity to be related to a Patriarch. He also talked about how we should always be willing to have open discussions with those of other faiths.
Elder Child talked about how he once earned twenty dollars as a child and had asked to be paid in silver dollars (those were much more common at the time) and how he put two of them in an envelope to pay his tithing. He stated that paying tithing is the best investment we can make.
Elder Ballard said that there is no role more essential than that of motherhood and that the biggest mistake parents can make is not living in the moment enough. Play with your kids at the park instead of rushing them off to the next event. Parents should focus on their children and not over schedule their children or themselves.
President Monson spoke a few times and of course had many good things to say. Of them though, the things that stood out to me most were him stating that we live in troubled times with lots of affliction, conflict and disasters, but that we can make a difference. We should stand for the right, even if that means we have to stand alone. And we should not permit ourselves to do anything that we wouldn't want our kids to do.
Many good messages were shared, so if you have some time, I urge you to read, listen to, or watch a few of the talks that were given. You may find them more enlightening and/or inspiring than you expect.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
General Conference
This weekend is General Conference weekend. Twice a year, the general authorities of the church hold this conference, which consists of 5 sessions total. 2 two hour general sessions on Saturday, 1 two hour priesthood session on Saturday night and finally 2 more two hour sessions on Sunday. Except for the priesthood session (which is only available on closed-circuit broadcast) all of the sessions are public and transmitted all over the world so that members of the church world wide can listen to the general authorities of the church speak.
I want to talk just a little about the priesthood session that was held last night.
First, let me say that I've always been a fan of the humanitarian aid fund that the LDS church has. I've always known that it does a lot of good and that it has less overhead than any other charity of its nature (at least of that size) so when you give to it, you know the money will go directly to helping those in need and not to pay for any overhead.
But, what I did not realize was the extent of the reach of that program, which Bishop Burton spoke about last night and provided some very interesting numbers.
He talked about different events, such as earth quakes, floods, fires, etc and how many people in how many different countries had been assisted in 2007. In all, the church responded to 176 different events in 52 different countries during that year alone. On top of that, the church also assisted with immunizations, donated wheel chairs and other such activities to help those in need as well. In all, 3.9 million people in 85 countries where assisted last year by the humanitarian aid fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Bishop Burton then went on to say that things that we do for ourselves are quickly forgotten, but that things that we do for others ends up being our legacy.
I've read different things by various bloggers who do not understand the nature of the church. One said that "Mormons are just as crazy as Scientologists", another claimed that Joseph Smith wrote the book of Mormon (he didn't, he translated it) and yet another called the church a cult, full of secrecy and mistrust of outsiders. If you ever see LDS General Conference in your local programming (if you have cable or satellite, you likely have it for certain, not sure about standard channels in various places), please tune in, if only briefly. There will be no strings attached and you can learn first had the kinds of things that are preached to the members of the church and see our leadership firsthand.
I'll post more thoughts on general conference after today's two sessions, but my message to anyone I'm able to reach with this is to please learn the facts firsthand (as opposed to your co-worker's cousin's friend's fiance says...) and then make up your own minds from there.
Listen to the news and to Hollywood if you must (but let's be honest, how often to they get everything that they report correct?) but remember that you can always go to www.mormon.org and learn first-hand what the church is really all about. And visiting the site will not trigger some trace to send missionaries to your home.
I'll write more later.
I want to talk just a little about the priesthood session that was held last night.
First, let me say that I've always been a fan of the humanitarian aid fund that the LDS church has. I've always known that it does a lot of good and that it has less overhead than any other charity of its nature (at least of that size) so when you give to it, you know the money will go directly to helping those in need and not to pay for any overhead.
But, what I did not realize was the extent of the reach of that program, which Bishop Burton spoke about last night and provided some very interesting numbers.
He talked about different events, such as earth quakes, floods, fires, etc and how many people in how many different countries had been assisted in 2007. In all, the church responded to 176 different events in 52 different countries during that year alone. On top of that, the church also assisted with immunizations, donated wheel chairs and other such activities to help those in need as well. In all, 3.9 million people in 85 countries where assisted last year by the humanitarian aid fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Bishop Burton then went on to say that things that we do for ourselves are quickly forgotten, but that things that we do for others ends up being our legacy.
I've read different things by various bloggers who do not understand the nature of the church. One said that "Mormons are just as crazy as Scientologists", another claimed that Joseph Smith wrote the book of Mormon (he didn't, he translated it) and yet another called the church a cult, full of secrecy and mistrust of outsiders. If you ever see LDS General Conference in your local programming (if you have cable or satellite, you likely have it for certain, not sure about standard channels in various places), please tune in, if only briefly. There will be no strings attached and you can learn first had the kinds of things that are preached to the members of the church and see our leadership firsthand.
I'll post more thoughts on general conference after today's two sessions, but my message to anyone I'm able to reach with this is to please learn the facts firsthand (as opposed to your co-worker's cousin's friend's fiance says...) and then make up your own minds from there.
Listen to the news and to Hollywood if you must (but let's be honest, how often to they get everything that they report correct?) but remember that you can always go to www.mormon.org and learn first-hand what the church is really all about. And visiting the site will not trigger some trace to send missionaries to your home.
I'll write more later.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Communication
I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday, but let me back up and lay out the entire story, as that's the part that is really worth talking about.
As the ward mission leader, the 2nd counselor in our bishopric asked me back towards the end of February if I would talk with the full time elders in the area and if the three of us would speak on the 5th Sunday of March. I agreed and talked with one of the elders a couple of days later. He said they were open and would be happy to do it.
A few weeks later when I was with both of the elders, I asked if they were all set to talk, but they couldn't remember having been asked and said they had already committed to speak in another ward that same day. Luckily, the elder I had spoken with had written it down in his book, so even though he didn't remember having been asked, it was indeed on their schedule. But, the still had the other commitment and said they'd check on the time.
After they did that, they found the other ward met ta 9AM (we meet at 1PM) so it was no problem.
On Saturday, I conducted another baptism and the 2nd counselor was there. Afterwards, I asked him a question about the Sunday program and he didn't remember having asked me to talk in Sacrament meeting and that a member from the stake high council would be speaking. At this point, I was starting to get concerned that I'd completely lost my mind.
Later in the day he (the 2nd counselor) called me up to say that the high councilman had just told him the speaker that was going to come with him fell through and he needed another speaker. So, I was back on the program.
I talked with the music director about it and she too had been told by the second counselor that I would speaking that week back in February and to get with me about the music (we had done that several weeks ago) So, the good news is I haven't lost my mind. The bad news is that perhaps the 2nd counselor has.
I had prepared to talk for 20 minutes and had to end up cutting that in half, but all in all it went well and everyone involved was able to find the humor in the situation.
I stated that I'd rather be prepared and not have to speak than the other way around.
As the ward mission leader, the 2nd counselor in our bishopric asked me back towards the end of February if I would talk with the full time elders in the area and if the three of us would speak on the 5th Sunday of March. I agreed and talked with one of the elders a couple of days later. He said they were open and would be happy to do it.
A few weeks later when I was with both of the elders, I asked if they were all set to talk, but they couldn't remember having been asked and said they had already committed to speak in another ward that same day. Luckily, the elder I had spoken with had written it down in his book, so even though he didn't remember having been asked, it was indeed on their schedule. But, the still had the other commitment and said they'd check on the time.
After they did that, they found the other ward met ta 9AM (we meet at 1PM) so it was no problem.
On Saturday, I conducted another baptism and the 2nd counselor was there. Afterwards, I asked him a question about the Sunday program and he didn't remember having asked me to talk in Sacrament meeting and that a member from the stake high council would be speaking. At this point, I was starting to get concerned that I'd completely lost my mind.
Later in the day he (the 2nd counselor) called me up to say that the high councilman had just told him the speaker that was going to come with him fell through and he needed another speaker. So, I was back on the program.
I talked with the music director about it and she too had been told by the second counselor that I would speaking that week back in February and to get with me about the music (we had done that several weeks ago) So, the good news is I haven't lost my mind. The bad news is that perhaps the 2nd counselor has.
I had prepared to talk for 20 minutes and had to end up cutting that in half, but all in all it went well and everyone involved was able to find the humor in the situation.
I stated that I'd rather be prepared and not have to speak than the other way around.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
There's no place like home
I just got back from a business trip to Alabama. The weather was nice (low to mid 60s) and I met some new people, established some new relationships and strengthened others. All in all, it was a good trip.
This morning it snowed here and there's a cold wind. It doesn't feel much like spring at the moment like it did further south (and east). But despite that, it's great to be back home.
There seem to be a lot of places that are nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. (Wherever that might be)
This morning it snowed here and there's a cold wind. It doesn't feel much like spring at the moment like it did further south (and east). But despite that, it's great to be back home.
There seem to be a lot of places that are nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. (Wherever that might be)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Baptism
I conducted a convert baptism yesterday, my first this year. The man is in his mid-30's and I've seen such a big change in him during the past 6 months.
Growing up in a particular faith, it seems to be much easier to hold on to those beliefs and traditions. But when, after already having reached adulthood, if you can still have an open mind to hear things out and have the spirituality to pray to know the truth of new information, I think that is something very special.
I have seen so often people who refuse to have an open mind. They think that what they have been taught is the way things are and nothing else could possibly have any merit. And I must admit, I myself when through a time when I was that way and did not have an open mind.
Even so, I'm not sure that I would have guts to do what some of these people I've known and worked with have done, nor am I confident that I'd have enough faith to pray about the new things I'd learned to find out if they were true. I admire these fine people, their faith and conviction is inspiring.
Growing up in a particular faith, it seems to be much easier to hold on to those beliefs and traditions. But when, after already having reached adulthood, if you can still have an open mind to hear things out and have the spirituality to pray to know the truth of new information, I think that is something very special.
I have seen so often people who refuse to have an open mind. They think that what they have been taught is the way things are and nothing else could possibly have any merit. And I must admit, I myself when through a time when I was that way and did not have an open mind.
Even so, I'm not sure that I would have guts to do what some of these people I've known and worked with have done, nor am I confident that I'd have enough faith to pray about the new things I'd learned to find out if they were true. I admire these fine people, their faith and conviction is inspiring.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Is the customer always right?
Today was a long day... 12 and a half hours to be exact (not counting commute time). I got a lot done, so that's good, but some people can be hard to work with for one reason or another.
One particular customer is the type who is always right and easily annoyed by anyone who disagrees with him or doesn't want to do things his way. He also wants things delivered ASAP, even if he just changed his mind and is having you redo work that had previously been done and approved.
It can be frustrating, but you can't always pick your customers.
On a lighter side, my little girl had a birthday earlier in the week and we had fun singing to her, watching her open presents and of course having cake and ice cream. Kids are great. Or at least they can be when not throwing a fit for whatever reason.
One particular customer is the type who is always right and easily annoyed by anyone who disagrees with him or doesn't want to do things his way. He also wants things delivered ASAP, even if he just changed his mind and is having you redo work that had previously been done and approved.
It can be frustrating, but you can't always pick your customers.
On a lighter side, my little girl had a birthday earlier in the week and we had fun singing to her, watching her open presents and of course having cake and ice cream. Kids are great. Or at least they can be when not throwing a fit for whatever reason.
Friday, March 14, 2008
The struggles of a small company
Going through this process myself now, I have a renewed respect for anyone who has built their own company. You start off just by yourself, if you don't log hours you can't invoice and if you can't invoice you don't get paid.
But, you need to keep new working coming in. So, a portion of your time has to be spend on non-billable activities, such reading and responding to RFPs and otherwise trying to figure out where your next project will come from. I have a few different pokers in the fire right now, if all of them bare fruit, I'll be so busy I won't know what to do. If none bare fruit, I'll still be okay, but that'll mean the business isn't growing any.
So, do you get all of the work and then hope you can hire to get it all done? Or do you turn work away and hope that later (when the current work slows down) you'll be able to find more?
It is an interesting challenge. The next few months should indicate how I've been able to handle that challenge.
But, you need to keep new working coming in. So, a portion of your time has to be spend on non-billable activities, such reading and responding to RFPs and otherwise trying to figure out where your next project will come from. I have a few different pokers in the fire right now, if all of them bare fruit, I'll be so busy I won't know what to do. If none bare fruit, I'll still be okay, but that'll mean the business isn't growing any.
So, do you get all of the work and then hope you can hire to get it all done? Or do you turn work away and hope that later (when the current work slows down) you'll be able to find more?
It is an interesting challenge. The next few months should indicate how I've been able to handle that challenge.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
It did get better, eventually
Okay, so after going back to the game, I took a risk on shorting some stock because it was at a real high price. So, I go for broke and short more than I can afford, but with the potential to make 250K, figured that should get me back into the game. However, the next card for that stock had it splitting rather than going down, so I went bankrupt a second time (that's a new record for our group). One of my friends, his wife and my wife all got out of the rate race and just me and another friend were left in it, but then I was finally able to get some traction, got a couple business opportunities that worked out, a duplex and an 8-plex and finally was able to get out of the rat race. Then after running around on the fast track for awhile without anyone finally winning, my wife finally won (she usually does when we play that game, I think I only one once).
So, even if your luck just seems terrible, you can always turn things around. This may have been just a game, but the same is true for real life. Never give up.
So, even if your luck just seems terrible, you can always turn things around. This may have been just a game, but the same is true for real life. Never give up.
Friday, March 7, 2008
CashFlow
So, today is game night. We went out with some friends to our favorite Chinese place and came back to my place to play CashFlow, a very fun game that teaches you about investing. I'm writing now as the game is being played because I'm getting my teeth kicked in at the moment. I couldn't get any deals on my draws, then I draw a doodad card (means I have to buy something). Sometimes the doodad isn't bad, like a coffee maker or something for 50 bucks. But no, I have to draw the vacation home doodad card. 25K down plus 500 per month. Anyway, I didn't have the money so had to go bankrupt. Which, among other things, means I lose three turns. (Thus the time I have to write this entry in my blog) Then, I get a chance to buy stock due to another card at a great deal, which normally I couldn't take, but due to the nature of the card I could. So, I put almost all of my cash into the stock because the price was so good. And then on the next round, that stock goes bankrupt. Okay, well it's finally my turn again, so I'm going to go try to climb out of the gutter and get back into the game.
More later.
More later.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Ah, spring
First a quick update on my friend (the one I collided with at ramming speed while skiing around the middle of February). He's on the mend and doing better, it would appear that now serious harm was done and he hasn't sued me for whiplash or anything like that, so it would seem no real damage came out of the incident.
I haven't written in a couple of weeks, been allowing myself to get too busy, but I have something write about now. We got a fair amount of snow this season, but it has been melting pretty good of late and this morning our basement flooded. Nothing too bad, but it's the third time in 6 years that it has happened, so we've decided to give up on carpet in that part of the basement. The good thing is we have some great neighbors and they helped us get things cleaned up and had us over for dinner this evening, so all of that was good.
It's a beautiful thing when neighbors help each other out and look out for each other. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone did that? I mean, just imagine if certain parts of the world that just can't seem to get along could adopt that kind of an attitude. I'm confident they would get much more enjoyment out of helping each other than fighting each other if they could just give it a chance.
I haven't written in a couple of weeks, been allowing myself to get too busy, but I have something write about now. We got a fair amount of snow this season, but it has been melting pretty good of late and this morning our basement flooded. Nothing too bad, but it's the third time in 6 years that it has happened, so we've decided to give up on carpet in that part of the basement. The good thing is we have some great neighbors and they helped us get things cleaned up and had us over for dinner this evening, so all of that was good.
It's a beautiful thing when neighbors help each other out and look out for each other. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone did that? I mean, just imagine if certain parts of the world that just can't seem to get along could adopt that kind of an attitude. I'm confident they would get much more enjoyment out of helping each other than fighting each other if they could just give it a chance.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
No serious harm done (I hope)
Well, my friend was having pains, particular when waking up in the morning and when he did things like cough or laugh. It wasn't very pleasant. So, he went to the doctor and had an X-ray taken, but they determined that no bone damage was done (he thought he might have had a cracked rib) and it seems to just be soft tissue damage (like a bad bruise). So they've got him taking some pain killers and hopefully the situation will work itself out in a couple of days time. We'll see how he's doing come Wednesday I guess.
On a different topic, I started playing a game on the GameCube called "The Lord of the Rings, the Third Age" with my son. He gets a kick out of it and likes fighting the bad guys. We played for almost 4 hours and the progress for our game indicated we had completed 2% of the game, although I had been taking it slow and just letting him enjoy the game, not trying to race through it as quick as I could. But then I woke up a little early on Saturday and played by myself for awhile and then played with my son again for a little bit yesterday and today. Now I'm at 13% completion and the game is kind of addicting. I love the music from the Lord of the Rings movies, along with the scenery and the story and this game has all of those things, so I find myself really drawn into it.
I find I can often spend a lot of time on something if I don't watch myself. My wife bought me the first book of the High Druid of Shannara a while back, but I only read a couple of pages and first and never really got into it. Then I took it on a business trip with me and read quite a few chapters on the plane. That got me hooked and I finished the book fairly quickly, but of course it was the first in a trilogy and had a cliff-hanger ending. My wife, the thoughtful person that she is, bought me the next two books in the series the following Saturday and ten days later I had finished with both of them.
I used to read quite a bit when I was younger (middle school up until my Jr. year in high school). Must have read 20 novels one summer alone. I realize that may make me sound like a nerd and maybe it does, but while I may have spent and entire summer with my nose in various books once, I know someone who once spent an entire summer in their basement writing programs in Pascal.
Ah, youth. They say it is wasted on the young, but that is just because they are jealous (I know I am).
On a different topic, I started playing a game on the GameCube called "The Lord of the Rings, the Third Age" with my son. He gets a kick out of it and likes fighting the bad guys. We played for almost 4 hours and the progress for our game indicated we had completed 2% of the game, although I had been taking it slow and just letting him enjoy the game, not trying to race through it as quick as I could. But then I woke up a little early on Saturday and played by myself for awhile and then played with my son again for a little bit yesterday and today. Now I'm at 13% completion and the game is kind of addicting. I love the music from the Lord of the Rings movies, along with the scenery and the story and this game has all of those things, so I find myself really drawn into it.
I find I can often spend a lot of time on something if I don't watch myself. My wife bought me the first book of the High Druid of Shannara a while back, but I only read a couple of pages and first and never really got into it. Then I took it on a business trip with me and read quite a few chapters on the plane. That got me hooked and I finished the book fairly quickly, but of course it was the first in a trilogy and had a cliff-hanger ending. My wife, the thoughtful person that she is, bought me the next two books in the series the following Saturday and ten days later I had finished with both of them.
I used to read quite a bit when I was younger (middle school up until my Jr. year in high school). Must have read 20 novels one summer alone. I realize that may make me sound like a nerd and maybe it does, but while I may have spent and entire summer with my nose in various books once, I know someone who once spent an entire summer in their basement writing programs in Pascal.
Ah, youth. They say it is wasted on the young, but that is just because they are jealous (I know I am).
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Rookies need room
I'm not the best skier in the world (or even in my small town, heck probalby not even on my street) but it's something that I really enjoy.
So, the other day I go skiing with a friend of mine that I've known for a good 16 years or so. Most of the runs were fairly uneventful, the snow was kind of crusty and icy (no fresh powder in several days and it had been sunny for at least 3 days) so it was a little choppy and hard to stop sometimes.
But on one particular run, my friend was ahead of me, cutting back and forth across the hill and I was doing the same behind him. Well, I cut one way to go behind him (kind of make a figure-8 pattern which we do from time to time going down the hill), however, he didn't know where I was and just then turned and started to come to a stop so he could look up the hill and see where I was (he's a better skier than I am). So, basically we both turned towards each other. He was practically at a stop, so couldn't really move, while I was moving at a pretty good clip. But, I could tell I didn't have enough time to go around him as fast as I was going and didn't want to fall down and clip his legs out from under him, so I just dropped my poles and crashed into him standing up.
Now, if you've ever played pool, I'm sure you've noticed that when you hit the cue ball into another ball, the other ball goes flying while the cue just sort of sits there and doesn't move nearly as much once contact is made.
That's what happened here. I fell down and lost one of my skis and then slid probably 15 or 20 feet from where my lost ski had landed. But my friend went tumbling down the hill like a rag doll fired from a potato cannon. He had to dig his heel into the snow as hard as he could before he could finally stop, a fair amount further down the hill and both of his skis and poles where up above me. We both asked the other if we were alright and both of us were and then started the walk back up the hill to reclaim our equipment, where I found that one of my poles, I'm not sure exactly how, was severly bent. It literally looked like a large letter "J", which is not a desirable shape for a ski pole.
After getting our skis back on, we went on down the hill and back to the lift for another run, where I discoved that although skiing with a bent pole isn't a big deal, trying to propel yourself on level ground using one is quite tricky.
But, all is well that ends well. After one more run we managed to bend my pole back into a relatively straight shape (it's at least usable again) and were able to enjoy the rest of the evening without any more collisions.
It was funny more than anything else, neither of us had ever done anything like that before and neither of us really got hurt.
Although, I sent email to him this morning asking how he was feeling and he hasn't responded yet...
Good times.
So, the other day I go skiing with a friend of mine that I've known for a good 16 years or so. Most of the runs were fairly uneventful, the snow was kind of crusty and icy (no fresh powder in several days and it had been sunny for at least 3 days) so it was a little choppy and hard to stop sometimes.
But on one particular run, my friend was ahead of me, cutting back and forth across the hill and I was doing the same behind him. Well, I cut one way to go behind him (kind of make a figure-8 pattern which we do from time to time going down the hill), however, he didn't know where I was and just then turned and started to come to a stop so he could look up the hill and see where I was (he's a better skier than I am). So, basically we both turned towards each other. He was practically at a stop, so couldn't really move, while I was moving at a pretty good clip. But, I could tell I didn't have enough time to go around him as fast as I was going and didn't want to fall down and clip his legs out from under him, so I just dropped my poles and crashed into him standing up.
Now, if you've ever played pool, I'm sure you've noticed that when you hit the cue ball into another ball, the other ball goes flying while the cue just sort of sits there and doesn't move nearly as much once contact is made.
That's what happened here. I fell down and lost one of my skis and then slid probably 15 or 20 feet from where my lost ski had landed. But my friend went tumbling down the hill like a rag doll fired from a potato cannon. He had to dig his heel into the snow as hard as he could before he could finally stop, a fair amount further down the hill and both of his skis and poles where up above me. We both asked the other if we were alright and both of us were and then started the walk back up the hill to reclaim our equipment, where I found that one of my poles, I'm not sure exactly how, was severly bent. It literally looked like a large letter "J", which is not a desirable shape for a ski pole.
After getting our skis back on, we went on down the hill and back to the lift for another run, where I discoved that although skiing with a bent pole isn't a big deal, trying to propel yourself on level ground using one is quite tricky.
But, all is well that ends well. After one more run we managed to bend my pole back into a relatively straight shape (it's at least usable again) and were able to enjoy the rest of the evening without any more collisions.
It was funny more than anything else, neither of us had ever done anything like that before and neither of us really got hurt.
Although, I sent email to him this morning asking how he was feeling and he hasn't responded yet...
Good times.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Twisted, sick and wrong
So, there's a game out there called "Would you rather" and there's a version of that game that is called "Twisted, sick and wrong". We had some friends over last night and we played that game. It was interesting. One of the sample questions on the box asks:
Would you rather swallow a bottlecap - or - eat a spider the size of a bottle cap.
Now, I might rather swallow a bottlecap than eat a large spiders, but there's just no way that I would rather pass a bottlecap than a spider.
Yes, I know, that's just twisted, sick and wrong, but I think that's the point. I haven't played the original game, but for those less adventerous it might be a better choice. I must say though, it did get some interesting discussions going.
Here's one to get you thinking:
As a railroad engineer driving a packed commuter train, would you rather run over a man trapped on the tracks - or - risk the 25% change of derailing that train by attempting to stop and avoid hitting him?
Would you rather swallow a bottlecap - or - eat a spider the size of a bottle cap.
Now, I might rather swallow a bottlecap than eat a large spiders, but there's just no way that I would rather pass a bottlecap than a spider.
Yes, I know, that's just twisted, sick and wrong, but I think that's the point. I haven't played the original game, but for those less adventerous it might be a better choice. I must say though, it did get some interesting discussions going.
Here's one to get you thinking:
As a railroad engineer driving a packed commuter train, would you rather run over a man trapped on the tracks - or - risk the 25% change of derailing that train by attempting to stop and avoid hitting him?
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Good thing I'm not a gambler
Well, if I had put any money on that Av's game I was watching I would have lost that too. They lost in overtime, but the frustrating part was the goal they let Radim Vrbata get to send it to overtime. I'll give props where props are due, it was a good play and executely perfectly (Vrbata used to be an Av player you know), but the Av's just let it happen. Nobody picked him up and they ended up losing. Hopefully they'll learn from that and keep fighting until the season ends.
Okay, so enough about hockey for now. We got a little snow today, not nearly as much as we've seen with some previous storms, but enough to cause some problems on the road. I drove my Mustang into the office this morning and saw an SUV that had tipped onto its side. Not sure what they were doing, but some people just don't seem to respect slick road conditions. I mean, if I can get my Mustang to work safely, surely others should be able to arrive safely in their SUVs.
I just got new business cards for my company yesterday, they look pretty good. Should be fun handing those out rather than the plain ones I had before.
Okay, so enough about hockey for now. We got a little snow today, not nearly as much as we've seen with some previous storms, but enough to cause some problems on the road. I drove my Mustang into the office this morning and saw an SUV that had tipped onto its side. Not sure what they were doing, but some people just don't seem to respect slick road conditions. I mean, if I can get my Mustang to work safely, surely others should be able to arrive safely in their SUVs.
I just got new business cards for my company yesterday, they look pretty good. Should be fun handing those out rather than the plain ones I had before.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Good thing I didn't have any money on the game
Well, it's a good thing that I didn't have any money on the big game. The Giants looked like a lot better team than they did against the Packers (at least to me).
My wife picked it though. She said that the Giants would win by 3 so man, did she nail that one.
That virus that I had I'm hoping is gone, but my cough still lingers and I've discovered that when you cough a lot, particularly deep, hacking coughs, you tend to get head aches. I normally don't get head aches very often, so it's been a different experience for me. I'm WAY better than I was a week ago at this time though, that's for sure.
Today was my boy's birthday and my wife got him a cake from a local bakery, which made me think of the cake that she got for me at that same bakery. A few years ago, I turned 30 and my wife wanted to get me a cake and take it to my parent's place for a family get together. But, she let my daughter pick the cake. So, there I was, at my parent's place with most of my brothers and sisters, celebrating by 3-decade birthday with a My Little Pony birthday cake. As you can probably imagine, I got a bunch of crap from my brothers and sisters, but I sure won't ever forget it.
The Colorado Avalanche are playing tonight, leading 1-0 against the Coyotes at the moment. We'll see if they can hang on for the win. Okay, check that, Coyotes just scored on the powerplay (5 on 3) so the game is now tied and they still have a power play. I'll sign off before another goal gets scored.
My wife picked it though. She said that the Giants would win by 3 so man, did she nail that one.
That virus that I had I'm hoping is gone, but my cough still lingers and I've discovered that when you cough a lot, particularly deep, hacking coughs, you tend to get head aches. I normally don't get head aches very often, so it's been a different experience for me. I'm WAY better than I was a week ago at this time though, that's for sure.
Today was my boy's birthday and my wife got him a cake from a local bakery, which made me think of the cake that she got for me at that same bakery. A few years ago, I turned 30 and my wife wanted to get me a cake and take it to my parent's place for a family get together. But, she let my daughter pick the cake. So, there I was, at my parent's place with most of my brothers and sisters, celebrating by 3-decade birthday with a My Little Pony birthday cake. As you can probably imagine, I got a bunch of crap from my brothers and sisters, but I sure won't ever forget it.
The Colorado Avalanche are playing tonight, leading 1-0 against the Coyotes at the moment. We'll see if they can hang on for the win. Okay, check that, Coyotes just scored on the powerplay (5 on 3) so the game is now tied and they still have a power play. I'll sign off before another goal gets scored.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Update on health and a quick explanation of my nickname
Okay, so my fever is gone now and my aches are pretty much gone as well. However, I'm still congested (sinuses and chest) and coughing like a 30 year smoker. I do seem to be on the mend though, so I'm just trying to not overdue it. Hopefully I can get this completely out of my system in the next couple of days. It has not been pleasant, but I can see light at the end of the tunnel and I'm pretty sure it isn't an oncoming train.
As for my nickname, it's a pretty short story really. My sister and I used to have an apartment together when we first moved out of our parents house after high school. She was the "Twisted Sister" and I was the "Doobie Brother". The name "Doobie" just stuck and many people still call me by that to this day.
Well, we have been getting a lot of snow and it is still snowing now, who knows how much we'll end up with when this storm is done. Today would be church day, but I think it best that I not attend today. The last thing I want to do is pass this along to someone else or get a relapse of it myself. (For the record, I couldn't care less who wins the Super Bowl, but I think that the Pat's will take it. I saw the Giants beat the Packers and I must say, I didn't find the win very convincing. Looked to me like that game could have just as easily gone the other way)
As for my nickname, it's a pretty short story really. My sister and I used to have an apartment together when we first moved out of our parents house after high school. She was the "Twisted Sister" and I was the "Doobie Brother". The name "Doobie" just stuck and many people still call me by that to this day.
Well, we have been getting a lot of snow and it is still snowing now, who knows how much we'll end up with when this storm is done. Today would be church day, but I think it best that I not attend today. The last thing I want to do is pass this along to someone else or get a relapse of it myself. (For the record, I couldn't care less who wins the Super Bowl, but I think that the Pat's will take it. I saw the Giants beat the Packers and I must say, I didn't find the win very convincing. Looked to me like that game could have just as easily gone the other way)
Friday, February 1, 2008
Okay, so it wasn't just a fever
Well, I'm still under the weather. Yesterday I was much worse than Wednesday, so I went to the doctor. They tested me for influenza A and B, both came back negative, but I think what I have is viral. If I'm not feeling quite a bit better tomorrow, I'm supposed to get some antibiotics and then if I'm still not doing better a few days after that, I go back in for more tests.
At this point, I'm just really hoping nobody else in my family gets this as it has been extremely unpleasant.
Shifting gears, I have recently started exchanging information regarding religions with a good friend of mine who lives on the other side of the country. We have found that we have many things in common, even though there are things that are peculiar to our specific faiths. I think it is great that we can have such an open exchange of beliefs and mutual respect. Religion is no reason to go to war.
At this point, I'm just really hoping nobody else in my family gets this as it has been extremely unpleasant.
Shifting gears, I have recently started exchanging information regarding religions with a good friend of mine who lives on the other side of the country. We have found that we have many things in common, even though there are things that are peculiar to our specific faiths. I think it is great that we can have such an open exchange of beliefs and mutual respect. Religion is no reason to go to war.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Fevers are no fun
I'm getting over a fever at the moment, it's kept me down the last couple of days and I'm still recovering today, although at least I was able to be a little productive. My temperature was at 104 last night, not sure I've ever had a temperature that high before. My sister-in-law who is a veterinarian said that a fever of 105 can burn up your brain, so I'm hoping I still have a little left with which to work tomorrow.
The achy body is the part that sucks the most, makes it hard to get comfortable. But I'm also one of those people who has a hard time gaining weight. I try to, but it usually takes a couple of weeks for me to put on just a couple of pounds. However, when I get sick like this and can't eat much, I can lose 5 pounts in two days. Very disheartening.
I'm not bragging about that; Some people have told me that they wished they had my problem, but that's only because they don't. I'm not saying I wish I had the opposite problem, where it takes weeks to lose a couple of pounds and then one small relapse can gain them back again, but trying to get to or maintain your ideal weight can be frustrating no matter which way you're headed.
There is an upside though, I've watched (or at least listened to) many episodes of the King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, Sienfeld, the Simpons and Home Improvement. All great shows in their own way. I don't like feely unproductive though, that's something that should be reserved for vacation time only (if even then).
Anyway, hopefully one more good night of rest and I'll be much better and able to get back to my regular routine.
The achy body is the part that sucks the most, makes it hard to get comfortable. But I'm also one of those people who has a hard time gaining weight. I try to, but it usually takes a couple of weeks for me to put on just a couple of pounds. However, when I get sick like this and can't eat much, I can lose 5 pounts in two days. Very disheartening.
I'm not bragging about that; Some people have told me that they wished they had my problem, but that's only because they don't. I'm not saying I wish I had the opposite problem, where it takes weeks to lose a couple of pounds and then one small relapse can gain them back again, but trying to get to or maintain your ideal weight can be frustrating no matter which way you're headed.
There is an upside though, I've watched (or at least listened to) many episodes of the King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, Sienfeld, the Simpons and Home Improvement. All great shows in their own way. I don't like feely unproductive though, that's something that should be reserved for vacation time only (if even then).
Anyway, hopefully one more good night of rest and I'll be much better and able to get back to my regular routine.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
First, some basics
To get things kicked off, I'm in my prime (at least I hope so) and I'm married with two kids, a girl and a boy. At first glance I may sound like Al Bundy, but I don't have a dog and I don't sell women's shoes for a living.
Instead, I write software for a living. I worked in the field for over ten years and then decided that it was time to form my own company. The name of my company is Natural Selection LLC and the URL for the site is www.nslimited.com
More on that to come later, but now on to other information.
I'm not much of a sports fan, but I do enjoy hockey and follow those standings and watch games from time to time.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (www.lds.org), but contrary to what some people seem to believe, I only have one wife, I do not have horns and I am a Christian. Yes, I live in Utah, but no, I do not know any of the Osmonds.
I enjoy video games and computer games, but don't play that much of either lately. I enjoy playing Lego StarWars with my son, tennis (on the Wii) with my daughter and anything else that seems to be fun when I get a couple of hours to kill.
The thing about being self employed is you can pretty much take time off whenever you'd like, but there is no such thing as paid time off. I work or I don't invoice.
My preference in music is pretty much anything, other than country or rap. I'm sure some of it is fine, but I'm not a fan of twang or whatever it is you call the rhythmic poetry reading that seems to make up most rap. I enjoy classical, some opera, heavy metal, hard rock, pop rock, classic rock, Christian contemporary and most everything else. Okay, I'm not a fan of Asian music. The octave structure is just strange to me. Most notably, I enjoy the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Anyone who has not heard their music is missing out.
This is probably good enough for a first post, I'll try to post again at least once before I die and if all goes well, no less than once per month and maybe as often as a couple of times a week.
If I haven't bored you to much, come back later. I'll discuss movies, books, games and what it's like being a self-employed husband and father of two trying to mark his mark on the world.
Instead, I write software for a living. I worked in the field for over ten years and then decided that it was time to form my own company. The name of my company is Natural Selection LLC and the URL for the site is www.nslimited.com
More on that to come later, but now on to other information.
I'm not much of a sports fan, but I do enjoy hockey and follow those standings and watch games from time to time.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (www.lds.org), but contrary to what some people seem to believe, I only have one wife, I do not have horns and I am a Christian. Yes, I live in Utah, but no, I do not know any of the Osmonds.
I enjoy video games and computer games, but don't play that much of either lately. I enjoy playing Lego StarWars with my son, tennis (on the Wii) with my daughter and anything else that seems to be fun when I get a couple of hours to kill.
The thing about being self employed is you can pretty much take time off whenever you'd like, but there is no such thing as paid time off. I work or I don't invoice.
My preference in music is pretty much anything, other than country or rap. I'm sure some of it is fine, but I'm not a fan of twang or whatever it is you call the rhythmic poetry reading that seems to make up most rap. I enjoy classical, some opera, heavy metal, hard rock, pop rock, classic rock, Christian contemporary and most everything else. Okay, I'm not a fan of Asian music. The octave structure is just strange to me. Most notably, I enjoy the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Anyone who has not heard their music is missing out.
This is probably good enough for a first post, I'll try to post again at least once before I die and if all goes well, no less than once per month and maybe as often as a couple of times a week.
If I haven't bored you to much, come back later. I'll discuss movies, books, games and what it's like being a self-employed husband and father of two trying to mark his mark on the world.
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