Hangin' Around

For any parent or anyone who has ever had to use the restroom in a public place where they were responsible for a child that they couldn't leave alone, you can appreciate what an awesome invention this handy little device is. It's similar to those baby changing stations but it's smaller, actually inside the stall, and designed for children toddler age and up. Probably mostly for children who are still required to use a car seat when in a car.

For the kids a little bit older like my 5 yr old, I just have her stand in the corner. This may sound mean at first but she doesn't mind because she understands being considerate of others in regards to privacy.

If she doesn't want to stand in the corner (which is rare) I just hand over my cell phone (Verizon LG Voyager with external touch screen and flip open full qwerty keyboard) with the calculator function open and all of a sudden they have many buttons to play with.

Frozen Angel Silouettes

So we had our first snowfall this weekend and of course what kid doesn't want to go right out and play in the snow. My kids are no different and I believe it must be some natural born instinct to need to make snow angels as a kid. This picture was taken around 9am and since it was the weekend I hadn't really gotten ready for the day so I was ill prepared to be outside for more than a few minutes at a time.

It's kind of funny to see them all bundled up trying to survive the cold long enough to enjoy the snow with their red cheeks and noses.

Then afterwards there seems to be some unwritten law that states any kid coming in out of the cold snow environment into the house to warm up must do so via a cup of hot chocolate.

Helping the giver

This year I've decided to do something a little unconventional and uncharacteristic for me. It's actually part for me and part for others. There's a part of me who thinks everyone should do something similar and I don't mind telling you why but first let me tell you what. I started a list of things that I would like to own which is basically a wish list. Now this may seem at first to be materialistic but follow my thought process on this. The list is online and viewable by anyone that wants to see it. Not only does it help anyone that wants to get me a gift and cares to know what I actually might want vs. picking some gift at random, at the very least it gives some insight into what some of my interests are.

Some of these things are of course what I consider big ticket items that if I actually want to own them, I would indeed be saving to make the purchase myself since I'm not part of some charity that people donate large sums of money to in order to fulfill my personal wants. But I've also put some things on the list that don't cost so much either. Now, having the pessimistic outlook on this, in reality I don't expect anyone but me to really use this list so I'd be pleasantly surprised if anyone else did.

While having the list can immediately give someone the impression that I may be a materialistic person, I look at it with a different perspective. I go to work every day, I have bills to pay and a family to support and I'm glad I can provide for their needs. You have to admit that life is more fulfilling when you can also supply some wants and it's a great feeling anytime you can give your family some of the things you did not have growing up. But for me the list represents exactly what the title of it is, a wish list. What that means to me and why it's really important is part of what keeps me going back to a job that I've been doing for 9 years and isn't always fulfilling and some days can be somewhat boring. It's important to have goals and things to look forward to. If I ever got everything on my wish list, I think I'd have less motivation and determination to work harder and be better. Don't get me wrong, that's not entirely what drives me alone. I am self-motivated to be better & do better than I have in the past because I like to improve myself and it gives me a healthy self-esteem to see the things I've accomplished. (Don't worry, my wife keeps my ego in check by helping me realize my flaws while also telling me how proud she is of the things I do right. Thank you wife.)

Anyway, the point of the "wish list" for me is to always be working for something that can be called a personal reward even if it's something simple. Speaking of which, in looking for possible Christmas gifts for those people that might not know what they want or only have more expensive items on their wish list, there's a wide variety of fun toys, gadgets & things over at Think Geek (hint, hint). It's great to have dreams and to keep dreaming. They make life more enjoyable. And if you can fulfill some of those dreams, even better.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pxILMfqp1MQA35IXjP10vEw

Mini Makeshift Bunk Bed

The beauty of having different people look at things is that everyone has their own perspectives.  As we get older it seems harder to have an original perspective or one that hasn't been jaded by our experiences.  Sometimes this makes us less creative, at times it can also make us more creative.  In any case, children seem to have the most unique and simple ideas of all that make us look at things from perspectives we hadn't thought about.

One story that represents this example is one of a moving truck that got stuck under an overpass because it was just barely too tall to pass under the bridge above.  This incident blocked traffic behind it and presented a problem as to how to get the wedged in truck pulled out from it's precarious predicament.  Of course there were several people standing around scratching their heads, engineers, tow-truck drivers, Department of Transportation, etc.  A man walked up with his grandson to see what the backup was all about and they were informed of the situation.  The boy looked at the scene and asked wondering, "Why don't they just let the air out of the tires?"

This unique perspective from a boy who just happened upon this accident freed the truck from its place and got traffic once again moving on its way.

Recently my 2 year old daughter Anna had a unique perspective on our shoe rack we have by our front door.  Evidently she didn't see it as a shoe rack so much as a neat place to crawl into once all those annoying shoes were removed out of the way.

It reminds me when I was a kid and we would move in to a new house, there was all kinds of empty space and the plethora of room under sinks and in linen closets provided neat little hiding places.  As a side note, we seemed to move around a bunch having moved an average of every 1.5 years until my junior year of high school.  My brother & I would joke with friends that we might be in the witness protection program.  I had a different school every year from 6th grade on to 11th.

Customer Request Vizualization

I saw this posted at the desk of someone at work and found it hilarious because it seems grossly true and accurate. Those of you in a job where you're involved to responding to customer requests or something similar will know what this picture is about.

2008 Election Results

Probably the one of the only things I'll post regarding the 2008 elections FYI:

Beat It

This weekend I visited a local retail store and found, somewhat hidden and seemingly out of place amongst the jeans and mens shirts, a demo display for Rock Band 2 with 2 Guitars and a set of drums. The actual set comes with a microphone instead of 2 guitars but this setup allowed someone to play bass as well at the same time. I decided to try it out since I'd heard about it and I wanted to see what all the madness was all about. I never really liked the way the guitar felt when I held it & tried to use it so I thought I'd give the drums a try. I only played through the first 2 easy songs when my wife found me and let me know it was time to go as we had a birthday party for my niece we needed to get to.

Well surprisingly enough I really enjoyed playing Rock Band and the songs weren't some random band or song that nobody knew either, these were songs that are / were popular and most people know at least some of them. I decided that not only did I have to go back but I had to bring my brother Chris who told me about his adventures with Guitar Hero and how much fun that was. So, during the birthday party arrangements and plans were made to go and so we went.

We played a few songs and even had someone walk up (a boy about 12) and play Bass Guitar on Expert mode with us and he did really well. I did take a turn at Bass Guitar on easy but did little better than 60%. Chris took a turn at drums for the first time as well and found it was a little more complicated than he thought but I watched as he quickly got the hang of it and he still did better than 80%. Afterwards though he still preferred the guitar and I still preferred the drums so it's a good combination. We spent about an hour an a half playing through some of the songs before going over to the electronics section to see how much it was and what was included.

We found that there were many more songs than what was on the demo and several songs that we'd be interested to try out also. In addition to the songs included with the disc, you could also import songs from Rock Band into Rock Band 2 and you can download over 500 other songs from the Rock Band online store. Seems like a game that has decent replay value. And while it may not teach you how to read music or how to play these instruments for real, it does take a step in giving you an opportunity to make you feel like you could do something you never dreamt possible. For the younger crowd, it can also certainly open doors for music appreciation and maybe even give them a desire to learn to play an instrument for real.

Wall-E

A widget I found via Meebo.com

This or That

I think indecision might be one of my areas that I need to focus on for improvement.  Or more plainly put, one of my big flaws.  When it comes to my job I don't have this issue as much as other areas of my life.  My job is technical support and generally speaking the systems I support have a logic to them that can be looked at with reason (contrary to what some people believe like "computers just do what they want").  

Most other areas of my life aren't always so logical where the results of a decision can be determined somewhat closely.  When a choice is presented there may be a number of options and optimally you want to make the choice that provides the best outcome.  With computers, you execute a command or action and should be able to get an expected result.  When you can expect the result of an action, it makes the decision somewhat easier.  But when your decisons involve the futures of others and variables that include social interactions, emotions, and all that human stuff as it does when raising kids and taking care of a family, the decisions don't always come as easy.

These decisions affect and shape peoples lives.  Maybe not a single decison but a pattern of decisions perhaps that defines how you react to situations.  I believe this has the most impact in the lives of my kids but it also applies to my wife, other relationships that I have with family & friends, and anyone I interact with.  Sometimes it's like the Butterfly Effect.  Nonetheless, it's still a learning process for me as well and I use my best judgement and hopefully I can learn from my mistakes and be open to constructive criticism without getting defensive.  

Canon with a big BOOM

I thought I was going to write more about my trip to Yellowstone but I now feel there are reasons not to. 1. The time for it may have passed. The post wouldn't be timely. 2. In addition it might be too close to the last Yellowstone post I did so I'm sure you don't want to hear more about the same topic. 3. I have another somewhat related topic that I want to discuss that kind of stems off my experience at Yellowstone.
Any time I went to take pictures at Yellowstone, along with all the other people that stopped to take pictures, I felt like a total noob. Also known as someone inexperienced or doing something for the first time.

Everyone else had these nice cameras with lenses that were even more expensive (and usually bigger) than the camera body itself. Many of them looked like they had professional equipment to take these beautiful pictures of wildlife, landscapes, and natural wonders. While here I am with this little 7 year old pocket PowerShot A75 that only has a 3x optical zoom and takes pictures at 3.2 mega pixel. I felt like a one-legged man showing up an Olympic race. So it was a big slap in the face that told me that I really need a newer camera, especially when trying to get pictures of wildlife and the animals are so far away that my dinky zoom hardly does anything.
Well this weekend I attended a Digital Photo Expo with experts from Nikon & Canon, the two top brands for professional photo equipment. The presentation that was most beneficial to me was the one on all the new PowerShot cameras. Sure I attended the one on the new Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR and how it compares to their previous models, but after attending both of those sessions and seeing what they both have to offer (including prices), I decided that I may not be ready for all that SLR has to offer. I still have much to learn about photography like aperture, composition, lighting, shutter speeds, ISO settings, etc. And for the price of the SLRs ranging from several hundred to a few thousand on average (the 50D MSRP is $1399 for example while the Rebel Xsi is $800) I'm not sure I can justify that right now without generating some income from it.
While I would really like many of the features of the SLRs, I think it might be too much for my limited experience and funds right now. Besides, I still want something a little smaller that's easier to carry around. After listening to the presentation about all the PowerShot cameras, the one that impressed me the most was the SX10 IS because it has a 20x optical zoom and yet can do the 28mm wide shots as well. That gives it a 35mm film equivalent: 28-560mm which is a huge range for any camera.  That means for example you can have a range demonstrated by the following example:
That doesn't even count the additional 4x digital zoom and up to 10 Mega Pixels.  This also has Canon's newest Digic 4 Image Processor for high-performance face & motion detection with faster & quieter image processing than the Digic 3.  This also means that you'll be able to take more shots with the same amount of battery life than before.  340 shots (AA-size Alkaline Battery), approx. 600 shots (AA-size Ni-MH Battery).  They've also gone from recording movies in .avi to .mov which means the movie size is smaller giving way to longer videos with the same amount of space previously.

You can read all about it via the link I provided above or other review sites but those are some of the highlights that grabbed me and made it stand out from other cameras.  That and the fact that the price range for it is in the $350 range +/- $25 or so depending on where you look.  

By the way, some of the reasons I chose Canon over anyone else was because I've liked my current PowerShot for the time I've had it, my Dad & brother has had some great results with their Digital Rebel, if I get an SLR I can swap lenses with them, and most importantly...if you go to a professional sporting event you'll see 50 private  individual photographers taking pictures with one of them using Nikon and the rest using Canon. (*source Jim Dececco- Professional photographer and Canon educator.)

Look at me!

Ok, I was curious so I thought (hoped) other people might be as well.  Here's a snapshot of my blog counter statistics for the recent past:

Small World After All

We spent last week in West Yellowstone, MT. It was an awesome trip overall. We drove 750 miles to get there. My parents went in their vehicle as well so we traveled more or less together but separately. Of course we stopped to take tons of pictures. I had my Canon Powershot along with my Panasonic video camera that records on mini-DV tapes. My cameras are several years old as I got them before my kids were born. My little Canon took hundreds of pictures, over 500MB worth. That's nothing compared to what my brother took with my Dad's Canon Digital Rebel. My Dad also filmed a few hours worth of video on his new HD camcorder that saves to flash memory cards. Their photos took 3.6 GB, the video took 207 GB.

We took the north loop in Yellowstone on the first trip into the park. Shortly after going in through the west gate, you can still see by the tall blackened tree remnants just how close the fires of '88 came to West Yellowstone, within 1/2 mile. The park is pretty huge and there's not what I would consider anything like heavy traffic within the park for the most part. However the park does have many visitors every day. Last year, Yellowstone had 3,151,343 recreational visits.

Stay with me, I'm getting somewhere with all this.

We learned quick that if we saw a group of cars pulled over somewhere, especially where people had their cameras out, you'd probably be interested in what they're all taking pictures of too. We happened to be following one of the popular yellow tour busses when in abruptly turned into a large pullout overlooking a large meadow. We found there was a herd of elk feeding there and I got this picture (edited for this post) of the bull elk.


We stayed there for a bit taking pictures and eventually moved on down the road taking pictures of scenery, waterfalls, thermals (hot springs, etc) along the way. Shortly before getting to Norris Geyser Basin we saw this lone Bison / Buffalo chowing down in a large open area beside a narrow river or small creek. We stopped of course, excited to see a real Buffalo and walked down a short path towards the water where we took pictures of the Buffalo on the other side of the water less than 50 yards away. I took this picture (unedited) while standing there.


Initially I felt somewhat safe that this large animal was on the other side of the water and confident that he wouldn't trudge through to charge at me or my family so we didn't feel like we were in any kind of danger. He was alone and not acting any way hostile any way. However, just before I started back up the trail to my vehicle I took a better look and found that the water was probably not even a foot deep. I didn't say anything at the time but got my family calmly back to our vehicle.

My parents and brother had already left in their vehicle to the next spot on the map we had planned to stop while I was getting my kids loaded in the car. This was fine as we were using our handheld transceiver ham radios to keep in contact with each other.

So just as we're putting the kids back in the car, my wife is suprised from behind by my Aunt Nancy asking if we come here often. With her is my Uncle Cal (my Dad's brother) and his daughter (my cousin, born the day or two after me) Kristin, with her two young babies in their car. They're from Marysville, WA. So here we are, over 750 miles from home, and my relatives show up out of nowhere. I get on the radio and let my Dad know I'm talking with his brother & his family and on top of all that, for the last couple days, they had been staying in the cabins right next to where we were staying.

They were actually on their way out of the north entrance of the park and happened to see us on the side of the road. It's one of those situations that makes me ask myself, "What are the chances of something like that happening?" I guess it truly is a small world after all and, no matter where you go, your relatives will find you.

True Price of Ammenities

I think this picture I took during a recent hotel stay says it all.  I found it particularily amusing that they found a need for just such a sign.

Non-Emergency Assistance

Well, you learn something new every day. I guess I was unaware that there was a non-emergency number to call in place of 911.
There's 311 for stuff you might need to talk to local authorities about but may not be considered an "emergency" per se.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-1-1
Burning building? Call 9-1-1. Burning Question? Call 3-1-1.
Wikipedia has this to say:

3-1-1 service is generally implemented at the local level, and in some cities it is also used for various municipal calls.

Examples of calls intended for 3-1-1:

• illegal burning
• suspicious persons
• debris in roadway
• minor injuries
• non-working streetlamps & parking meters, etc.
• noise complaints
• local government inquiries

However it also says that it's not available in all areas and, according to this website at least, it's not available in the Seattle / King County area though further investigation might yield different results and/or other non-emergency numbers for your local area. Perhaps that's why I've never heard of it.

Dream Job

Whenever I meet someone new, sometime in the course of conversation in attempt to get to know them better, I will ask "So what do you do?" with the assumption that they actually are doing something of course and the added inferrence that the so-called "do" refers to a job or how they spend most of their time.  They could be a full time student and that would suffice for an appropriate answer.

However, regardless of what they answer, I listen more closely to how they answer.  I find it interesting that I rarely get a response that indicates the person is excited or enthusiastic about what they do.  So my follow up question eventually leads to, "What do you really want to do?".  This line of questioning tells me what they're doing now of course but most people seem to not be doing what they'd love to be doing.  I suppose to some degree, I may be no exception.

Don't get me wrong, I like what I do and if you ask me or any of the people I work with or used to work with what they would miss most about going to another job, I can almost guarantee they would tell you it would be the people they worked with.  I have a great team that I have the pleasure of working with.  Generally speaking we work great together, we support each other, we share each others loads & responsibilities, we communicate regularly via bi-weekly team meetings and daily via our Instant Messager and hosted conference room where we can all post questions and get immediate responses from everyone else on the team.  There's also lots of playful banter even with the new people that have recently joined the team.

Yesterday marked my 8th year anniversary with Avaya.  I'm in the same role now as I was when I started too.  Part of me is ok with that only because other related groups that I might have had the opportunity to move to have had more layoffs than my group.  I've had several co-workers move to other groups only to be eventually let go.  So I guess I've remained because I do the job well and as such there's a level of expected security.  As predicted, my 8th year anniversary came and went without anyone knowing besides my co-worker who sits next to me that I mentioned it to that it happened just as predicted.  No recognition whatsoever.

But I digress, the point is that I too would be doing something different if I thought I could get paid anything close to what I'm making now.  Because while I would love to "live the dream", I have a deeper rooted sense of responsibility to my family than to my dream job.  I guess I actually have 2 different dream jobs I would enjoy.

The first dream job is one where I work for a company that offers goods & services for technical solutions to internal or external customers.  My role would be to research new technology.  When a request comes in for a technical solution, I would come back with solution A & solution B that meets their requests.  A full solution would include cost breakdowns of time & materials, how long it would take to implement, what it would take to support & maintain, relevant dependancies, etc.  Then I would work with a team of resources to implement the solution.  Being paid to research and play with new technology sounds really fun to me.

The second dream job would be one where I get paid to do multimedia editing.  I would like to be able to spend more time on audio & video editing (mostly video) but I have various obstacles.  I really enjoy some of my so-called obstacles though like my family, vacationing, etc.  One of my main obstacles is getting video to work with.  This has 2 main sub obstacles in itself.  

1. I don't particularly enjoy doing the filming most of the time.  I don't have anything to film anyone would really find of much interest in the first place and my hand isn't the perfect camera stabilizer so there's too much shakiness in the videos.

2.  Part of the reason I don't really enjoy filming is because the video camera I have now doesn't put out the video quality I want.  I'm so used to viewing things in HD now that everything else looks grainy and if I can't produce something I can be proud to show others, I'd almost rather not to it at all.  The video camera I have was bought this century and records on mini-DV tapes with a firewire port, can film decent in very low lighting with the built in filters, and can zoom in pretty far.  But since I've been spoiled by HD quality tv & movies, the picture to me now looks almost like it's one step above the old reel-to-reel home movie films like they mimicked for the opening sequence for the Wonder Years tv show.

I do enjoy video editing and I've done some simple audio editing in conjunction with that to make audio tracks the exact right length or to make my own ringtones from .mp3 files.  I just don't have a good source of video files to work with.  I've tried all kinds of software packages that do video & DVD editing for creating my own fancy home movies.  I haven't had much exposure to playing with these features on a Mac yet but that's on my wish list.  Windows Movie Maker is suprisingly easy yet can have features flexible enough to make a decent video.  See my Father's Day tribute.  I've been trying to learn Adobe Premiere off & on over the last several years but it's got so many complex features that make it incredibly flexible, it comes with a huge learning curve.  To make it a little easier on learning and the pocketbook, Adobe presented Premiere Elements which has all the most commonly used features an interested amateur hobbyist might use.

I know my wife has already said she'd be supportive of me switching careers.  She said we'd find a way to make it work.  That might mean moving to a smaller house and doing without some of the amenities we currently enjoy too.  I know she'd even be willing to move out of state or possibly even out of country if needed.  I think I'm holding myself back because of how it would negatively affect my family, the added stress it would bring to their lives and such.  For me to do that just seems too selfish and I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it.  Perhaps one day, maybe if I ever get laid off or whatever, who knows.  Until then, it will be a minor hobby.

Making Memories

Labor Day, the last 3 day weekend for summer, brings for many people the last great opportunity for the year to do something fun and have a break from work or school before getting back into the routine of things that we're used to the other 9 months of the year. For parents like me, it means a last little mini-vacation with the kids and/or friends & relatives before everyone gets back to school schedules and other activities that come during the school year.

In my case, besides a daughter starting 2nd grade, another daughter starting Kindergarten, and the youngest starting pre pre-school play groups, it also means the older 2 daughters having schedules during the month for dance class and girl scouts. This in addition to the activities Mandy has been doing for the Gluten Intolerance Group.

This Labor Day we returned for the 2nd year in a row to a camping location we have come to appreciate and love. As a matter of fact, this was my 4th time camping out at Zion's Camp this year. I stayed in 2 different long houses, a tent, and one of the cinder block cabins. It's funny, I had my 2 older kids with me 3 of the 4 times (the one time was a father / son thing I did with my Dad & brothers.) However, it was only the 2nd time Mandy had been here and the first time was this time last year.

This year we invited Mandy's Mom, Janeen & Step dad, Ken who brought their (his) 16 year old son, Brook. Brook also brought a friend so he could have a buddy since there was nobody else his age. We also invited the rest of Ken's kids (they're all older and living on their own, some of which have kids of their own.) While Janeen's other daughter Jessica came again this year with her husband John and son Dawson (who also brought a friend), only Ken's daughter Heather accepted our invitation and brought her 2 young daughters Lucy & Ellie. Her daughters along with Dawson & his friend were about the same age as my kids, enough such that they had fun playing together anyway.

Yesterday I took one of the canoes out on the lake with John, my 5 year old daughter Sara, Dawson & his friend. The canoe is faster than the row boats and easier than the pedal boats here.
While I've always had this fear of going under water, the instability of the canoe was exciting, exhilarating, and yet scary at times when the small boat would rock. I initiated the activity as it's part of my self-motivated plan to overcome my lifelong fear and after paddling down to the other end of Coon Lake and back, I had my fix and the kids had a blast as well.

This camping was part of Mandy's plan inspired by an article she read in The Ensign that I wrote about earlier this year and so here we are, me without an internet connection and barely any cell service, making memories with our family and me typing this post into wordpad on my laptop since I've refused to install Microsoft Office and haven't had a need to install Open Office yet. Perhaps I'll do that when I get home, back to broadband land, and after I upload this post.

Retail Opposites

A friend of mine recently published this post regarding a recent trip to Sears where he recalls the poor customer service he had there. When you go to an establishment, it's not unreasonable to expect a certain level of service and when that expectation is not met, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and a negative emotion associated with that store that you remember for the next time you want to shop for an item that store sells.

I would like to submit that, in general, our customer service experiences are either on par or moderately sub par with our expectations and this decline in good customer service has made it such that while we still expect the same level of customer service we always have, we may not be as surprised or disappointed when our expectations are not met since it has happened so many times before. Perhaps this is partially my fault when, to get lower prices, I shop at stores that probably hire people that don't require high wages or high skills & experience and are usually somewhat easy to replace.

Having said that, I think that when we get exceptional customer service it also leaves an impression on us. This is what reminds us that price isn't everything and neither is location. I say this in reference to my recent drive down to Lacey, WA where the only Cabela's store on the west coast is. That's a 40 mile drive for me. Every time I pass by it on I-5, I am always on my way to somewhere else like Oregon and I have the wife & kids with me who just want to get to where we're going and get out of the car.

We took the drive down there and it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would to get there. First of all let me say this store is huge. It looks like it should be a warehouse store from the outside but is very much like a department store on the inside. As far as what's in the store and what it looks like I'll just say that it's amazing, there's lots to choose from, and many things I didn't even know existed. There's even an artificial mountain as the centerpiece for the store that displays all kids of taxidermy animals and birds from small marmots to Elk, Antelope, and Mountain Goats. Underneath even has an aquarium with real fish. Large salmon, halibut, trout, etc. There's even a section for African animals like Lions and Elephants. If you enjoy outdoor activities, there's something there for everyone.

Ok, back on topic and getting to the point of this whole post. The people there were very visible, made their presence known to the customers, and were not shy about stopping whatever they were doing to ask if you needed any assistance. They're the type of people that seem to have an eye for that look on customers faces that just says, "I could use some help please." My Dad was looking for a specific watch and while he was looking in the glass case he was asked if he would like to look at anything in particular. He replied that he hadn't found what he was looking for and was directed to another section of the display cases to where the item was located. He had questions about the item and the employee was able to answer what they knew about it and on specifics regarding how the item worked or how to use a particular feature, when they didn't know they opened it up, let my Dad handle the watch and check out the manual that came with it.

Ok not overly impressive so far but later when we were in an entirely different part of the store this same employee happened to be there as well. It wasn't even on the same floor (there's two floors). And again my Dad had that look and so again this employee approached and inquired if assistance was needed. This is the part that is unusual because typically an employee is trained on how to work in a specific section of the store and outside that section they are lost and try to not make eye contact with customers. Not so in this case. This person was knowledgable in this area of the store as well and was happy to help.

I've been in so many large stores like this that employ people that have no idea about other areas of the store and sometimes you're lucky if they even know anything about how to do their job in the area of the store they are assigned to. It becomes frustrating when you go into a store looking for assistance on an item they sell and you know more about it than they do so, like my Dad, you end up teaching them about it but still leave without your questions answered due to a lack of knowledgeable staff even if you can get someone to engage you. I will purposefully and obviously look around like I'm lost in the hopes that an employee walking by will ask if I need assistance rather than simply walk by without acknowledging my presence with a hello, eye, contact, etc.

For a great overall retail experience that includes a great selection, helpful & friendly staff, with a delicious variety of meats (like buffalo, wild boar, ostrich, etc) served at the deli & grill, visit Cabela's. It's worth the drive.

The Mountain!

Every clear day in the Puget Sound area the weather is neither sunny, nor cloudy. I mean technically it is in meteorological terms but to us natives the weather is judged great if "the Mountain is out". This, in the south Sound anyway, is of course Mt. Rainier. Any time I have my kids in the car and I can see the mountain I shout out "The Mountain!".

After the first several times of no response eventually my 7 year old Jennifer responded letting us know that she both heard me and was somewhat tired of me saying it by repeating my exclamation in a very bored tone as if I had just told a very cheesy joke, the kind our high school history teachers would tell.

Jennifer's middle name is Eden which meaning is translated as something meaning Paradise. When Jennifer sounded bored with my exclamation of The Mountain, I decided I needed to instill some excitement and memories of the beauty and majesty of Mt. Rainier in her and my other children. The main visitors center, located at 5400 feet is at the location on the mountain called Paradise. When I told Jennifer this and that I was going to take her there she was suddenly excited at the prospect of going to the place that represents the meaning of her name.

So after planning and scheduling we finally went up the mountain this week. My parents & brother Chris came along in their vehicle as well. It had been hot & muggy all week and this was a nice break from the heat of the house & was a little cooler at the higher elevation or so at least it felt that way. Entrance was $15 for our car and $10 lifetime pass for any National Park now that he's of qualifying age. We drove to Kautz creek where there was a hiking trail, picnic tables made of recycled material, and overly smelly "bathrooms". I didn't go in as I could smell it as I drew near the door. It was 1pm by this time and everyone was hungry so we stopped here for a picnic lunch that we had packed.

We drove on 3 miles up the road and stopped at Longmire which is about 7 miles from the Nisqually park entrance at the southwest corner of the park. We heard on the parks AM broadcast station that there was a free tram that ran every 30 minutes on the weekend that would take passengers from Longmire to Paradise with a stop in between at Cougar Rock. We all boarded the next bus which saved both our vehicles 22 miles worth of gas round trip. Good thing too as the Paradise parking log sign said "Full" when we got there.

We were dropped off right in front of the Henry M. Jackson visitors center. I explained to Jennifer that this is where I proposed to her mom almost exactly 10 years ago at the very top observation deck while she was on one of the center benches relaxing. It is also the building where my dad proposed to my Mom.

There was a bucket of snow right inside that was put there for people to touch. As I started exploring the visitors center, I found that what I had hoped to share with Jennifer was noticeably absent. She had been to a couple free presentations at the library having to do with stuff they can experience outside like watershed areas, insects, etc. I figured since she enjoyed that, she would love the displays of the animals and wildlife they had at the visitors center.

To my dismay the displays I remembered from the last time I was there a few years ago had been changed as part of a centenial celebration and the theater exhibit was entirely closed in preparation for being moved to the new visitors center opening this fall.

At least we got to view people at Camp Muir with my Dad's optical toy he brought along.

I didn't know there was going to be a new visitors center but there's a poster about it downstairs and how the new building will be extremely more energy effecient and able to withstand all the snowfall, melting the snow on the roof, keeping the place warm, etc. The existing Henry M. Jackson building was opened in 1966 and will be torn down next spring which I was dissapointed to find out as I will never get to share those memories with my daughters but at least we got to visit it one last time before it's gone forever.

It is The Mountain and I got a collectors patch that I'll put on my backpack and a Mount Rainier National Park spinning keychain to add to my growing collection of keychains from places I've visited (and some I haven't from my brother like Germany and Iceland). We'll try to return again in Feb. when the beautiful snow should be covering the area and then visit the new visitors center and recently redecorated Paradise Inn lodge.

Spending a day on Vashon

Spending a day on Vashon Island and making a short quick post from my cell phone. Didn't bring the laptop, no internet.

Going Solo

This is from a comment I made to someone else's blog post but when I got done making the "comment" it was longer than I had anticipated originally writing and decided it warranted posting here.

[My Daughter Sara]...Loves to play with friends but content most of the time in her own world playing by herself. Last night I spent a couple minutes trying to make contacts using the handheld ham radio while standing at the window in my room. To do this I say something like, “Good evening this is KE7UTN (my call sign) checking the repeater. Is anyone listening tonight?” Sara must have watched and several minutes later my wife came to tell me Sara was wandering around her room by herself with a toy flip phone to her ear saying things like, “Hello, this is GFCO (the group Mandy is involved in) is anyone out there listening?” It is not uncommon to walk by her room to see her in there by herself playing with toys and talking to them or acting as the voice for them so they can talk to each other. Sometimes she has her toys argue with each other and sometimes they do something where she has to discipline them. It’s funny to watch & listen sometimes.

A job well done

My Dad taught me that if you're going to do something, do your best at it and always finish what you start.

For the last couple years I was reminded of this anytime I drove through a neighborhood not far from mine. There is this house on the main street in this neighborhood where the front yard is divided somewhat in half by the cement walkway going from the street up to the house. What I found odd about this, and the thing that reminded me of my Dad's teachings was that only one side of the front yard had a lawn put in and the other side was just dirt. For many months before this I remember both sides were just black plastic held down by rocks to prevent weeds from growing. Then came the week when there was topsoil spread out and it was like that for several more months, and finally the one side had seeds planted and green started to pop up. It remained like this for quite some time and the sight reminded me of another saying that sounded very similar to one my Dad used when I wouldn't complete a job such as taking the trash out but not putting a new bag in the can or doing yard work but not putting the tools away.

This is...wait for the punchline...

...A Half Grass Job

The price of health

My wife & 5 year old daughter spent 7 hours at the Auburn Regional Medical Center today. When my wife relayed the status of our daughters condition to the nurses staffed on the Urgent Care help line (103 degree temperature and climbing since the night before with vomiting through the night), they recommended taking her in to the Emergency Room at the hospital.

My wife sat & waited for 3 hours to be seen. When the time came that my daughters Motrin had worn off and she could have another dose, my wife asked to get something to help reduce the fever. After an hour there was nothing and she was told just a few more minutes. After 3 hours someone came in to discharge her and my wife indicated they had still gotten nothing of the sort. Her request was finally fulfilled on the way out the door but she was still sent home with 104 degree temperature which was worse than when she got there.

I'm no doctor but that makes no sense to me. The other thing I don't understand is what the heck I'm paying these medical expenses for. When my daughter leaves the hospital worse than when she went in, having spent several hours there, and received only a few minutes of attention during that time, I am unable to comprehend what awesome service I'm paying for.

Delayed Humor Response

When we took our trip to Missouri back in May, we took our kids by this dam that created the Lake of the Ozarks. It was not far from the resort we were staying at so we thought we'd check it out. Taking a cue from National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, we followed suit and made jokes about not seeing any dam gift shop where we could get start a dam tour with a dam tour guide or buy some dam pictures so we took our own dam pictures, etc. My wife & I thought it was kind of funny and yet appropriate for the scenario this went on for a few minutes and our kids had no comment or reaction to our play on words.

Fast forward to this week when we drive by a fenced yard not far from our house that has a donkey in it. I notice it and, in the same light and humor as reflected on above, I say "ass" in a tone that suggests I'm calling someone a jerk. My wife & kids are in the car at the time and my wife, who obviously didn't see the donkey surprisingly shocked asks, "What did you just say?" I explained the situation and, since our kids were in the car (at least for our 7 year old), turned in to a teaching moment about how sometimes words can have 2 different meanings and that this particular word is another name for a donkey as referenced in the Bible but today we more commonly just say donkey since we don't want to mistakenly swear (as kids sometimes call each other names of animals when pretending or just being mean ie; chicken, cow, pig, etc)

This of course led to how two words that sound the same can also have different meanings and one can be a swear word. So we asked the 7 year old, "What do you call that thing that beavers make that holds back lots of water?" Having recently learned about beavers at the library she knew the answer right away and answered, "Dam." We pointed out how it sounds like a swear word but it's not when used in the right context and then of course recounted our dam jokes from Missouri. We paused and several seconds passed and I looked back at my daughter with a look that seemed to indicate concentration and that the gears were spinning in her head. After a few moments we hear her say calmly but like she just figured something out, "Hey, that's funny. You should turn that into a joke."

My wife & I busted out with laughter at the delayed humor response from our wonderfully intelligent child. We had made these same jokes 2 months ago and she just now gets it. She didn't laugh though, it was just a response of sudden understanding. Perhaps she regarded it as the same kind and level of funny as the joke she recently read to me off of a Popsicle stick..."What is the most important thing to remember when going skateboarding?...A skateboard." Of course I didn't know it was supposed to be a joke when she asked me so I answered "helmet" as expected. I saw the Popsicle stick in her hand as she read the answer to me. She's going to love it when she gets that history or science teacher in school that thinks they're funny because they memorize jokes from the Laffy Taffy candy wrappers. (We'll always remember you Mr. Swanson who dressed like and saluted Mr. Rogers.)

Life After Beach

I don't consider myself any kind of fabulous photographer. In fact I'm using a digital camera that's several years old. It's a Canon PowerShot A75 that's a whopping 3.2 mega pixels. Heck, the common cell phone today is just about up to that.

Anyway, I went walking on the beach early on the morning of my birthday this year while vacationing at Seaside, OR. I took several pictures of random, seemingly innocent shots. After reviewing them I decided they had a loose theme attached to them besides "gloomy cloudy morning on the beach".

For your consideration, amusement, and criticism, I offer to you a small collection I have appropriately dubbed, "Death's A Beach".



Some say, "Life's A Beach". I say there's opposition in all things and this is my photographic evidence.

Growing pains

They say time flies when you're having fun. They reminisce and say "I remember when..." And they say "You'll never get those years back." Some of those years were hard, very challenging times and, while I appreciate how they've helped me become the person I am today, a part of me doesn't want some of those years back.

I have 3 daughters. Jennifer is 7, Sara is 5, and Anna just turned 2 this week. Anna has been starting to tell us when her diaper is no longer clean and fresh so we took this as a good sign that she's ready to start down the challenging road or potty training adventures. (Note the heavy sarcasm here.) Mandy has played the primary key role in this endeavor for each of our kids and previously for the 3 kids she helped raise when she was a nanny. So while I have played a supportive role, I am no stranger to "getting my hands dirty" so to speak in this task.

Jennifer was already potty trained when Sara was 18 months old and she, like many siblings, wanted to follow the example of her older sister, do what she does, go where she goes, and be grown up like her. Sara took the lead on initiating this process and did a fairly good job of ridding herself of diapers after about 3 days of practice.

While Anna has been giving signs that she's ready to take that leap from diapers to underwear, she's not as accepting of change and has difficulty letting it go in the scary water hole 2 feet off the ground where her legs dangle loosely. Even time spent on the training potty at her level that played a tune each time there was a deposit invoked a reaction that made you think the seat was made of ice cold razor blades that each rotated in place whilst at the same time alternating going up and down. (Yeah, it was that loud and that much of a fight as she struggled to run as far away as possible.) I can gladly say though that after one full week, only pull-ups go on at night, underwear stays on during the day, she typically lets us know when she needs to "go", and she's fairly comfortable sitting on "the big potty".

The whole point of this is that ever since Jennifer was born, we've almost always had to carry around this oversized bag that was meant to allow anyone to contend with any type of situation that could arise when away from the house, even if it was just a simple trip to the store. You've seen them, large enough to fit 2-3 adult human heads inside (don't ask how I know this). But what they really contain is something like 5 different outfits with even more diapers to for various times of the day, accidental messes (are there any other kind?), various items and methods for feeding and cleaning up after feeding the baby, etc. It's like a travel bag for a baby and if it were for an adult it would be good for a weeks vacation.

When Anna learned to walk that meant the end of always having to carry someone anyplace we went. Now that potty training is becoming a reality and it seems an end is in sight, the potty chairs can be disposed of and there's almost an end to the dreaded "diaper bag".

Licensed Technician

I've been taking classes for the past several weeks and studying to pass the exam for becoming a licensed ham radio operator. There are 3 levels of licenses and the first level is called Technician. There are 35 test questions chosen out of a pool of over 300 possible questions. We left for Seaside, OR yesterday and on the way down my wife quizzed me. I had previously been taking practice tests online at qrz.com. I was doing pretty well and was pretty confident in myself. Local Amateur Radio clubs around the world held their annual Field Day event this weekend and it is not uncommon for there to be testing sessions available at this time. It requires 3 licensed hams of General license or higher (General is the second level, Extra is the third) who are certified by a VEC (Volunteer Examiner Coordinator). Basically this means that they are allowed to administer the exams and have passed training for FCC regulations and what-not.

Anyway, we found where the club in the Seaside area was holding their Field Day event and stopped by to pay them a visit. We actually missed our exit off the freeway because Mandy was asking me test questions. She's been studying along with me as well since she thought it would be a good addition to compliment her previously obtained CERT training. We were about 15 miles past our exit by the time we realized we had missed our turn off that we pulled out the laptop, fired up Microsoft Streets & Trips, and recalculated a new route which took us through Portland where we stopped for lunch.

Field Day events were being held at a restaurant/gift shop/museum at mile marker 18 on Hwy 26 called Camp 18. We found the club & got ourselves set up for a test. They had actually just finished a testing session when we arrived but they were happy to get us set up. Mandy finished first and missed only one. I was a little concerned because many of the questions I was answering seemed foreign to me as I had not seen several of them on the practice tests I had taken. The tests we took were different sets of questions from each other. My test was graded and I was surprised to hear that I too only missed one. I was glad as well because if I had done worse than Mandy, I would have never heard the end of it. The examiner said he did worse than his wife 15 years ago and he's never heard the end of it.

In fact one of the examiners had actually moved to Oregon from Bonney Lake, WA and were originally certified as hams at the same place we have been taking our classes (Maple Valley fire station). And if that wasn't coincidence enough, just as we were about to leave they asked just one more question. "Are you L.D.S.?" I said yes and they said they were as well and that they could just tell. Kind of funny how that happens and yet it somehow doesn't surprise me any more.

Now we'll be researching what kind of radio to start with so I can be able to transmit at something higher than .5 watts which is what you get without a license from the 2 way radios you can get at many retail stores.

Unexpected Motivation

Sometimes in life we have people that say or do things that motivate us. Often this can be a coach, a parent, or some other role model. There are times though when this source of motivation comes from someone or something that we didn't expect. In some cases it not only motivates us but also teaches us that our preconceived ideas or thoughts about that someone or something could have been misconstrued and way off base in the first place. Like when a truck gets stuck under an overpass because it's too tall and didn't make the clearing so it's wedged in pretty tight so it can't move on its own power...Tow trucks can't budge it and city engineers are scratching their heads and a little kid comes up and asks, "Why don't you just let the air out of the tires?" and at first nobody even listens to "a kid" but then everyone has that "DUH" moment and all of a sudden there's a new found humility.

Well, as silly as it may sound, the advice I pass along comes from a 1989 movie called UHF. Before Michael Richards was ever known as Kramer, he was an unsuspecting janitor named Stanley Spadowski. In the clip below, he teaches us never to quit and to stand up for yourself.


And if that's not motivational and inspiring, I don't know what is. God bless America!

Tribute to Dad

A few years ago, 2004, I decided I wanted to utilize my amateur video making skills and create something for my Dad for Fathers Day. I actually started planning months in advance. I noticed that there was this large stack of photos my Dad had been planning on having scanned so he can have a digital library. Most of the photos, if not all of them, starred him and they went back as far as him being 1 month old. I'd seen these photos several times when I would come to visit lying in a clear plastic bag waiting for something to be done with them and always in the same spot.

I went over to their house one day (probably sometime in March) and had my Mom gather all the pictures she could that had my Dad in them and I took most of them with me. At this time I didn't have a scanner at home but my Mother-In-Law had a pretty nice one. I arranged with her to come over after work for several days to scan photos. I scanned about 300 photos in the best resolution possible and saved them to my portable hard drive then later burned them to a DVD when I got them home. All the pictures I scanned in high resolution were pretty large and took up a few gigabytes worth of space. This was the first part of the Father's Day present.

I sifted through all these photos and found themes amongst groups of them and started by putting them in a somewhat chronological order for presentation. I included transitions between each one and a few effects to add to the feeling I was trying to impress. I put them together, added music that I had to do a little bit of editing too as well (mostly for appropriate length) and made the pictures fit with the words.

The very last group of photos was put together to go along with a song I had found a year or so before and had played for my Dad the previous Fathers Day. It's by a group called 2NU or now 2NU2 and it's appropriately called "A Father's Day". They are actually a band local to here and had a song on the radio in the 80's called "This Is Ponderous" that was unique and catchy. Along with most of their "songs", it's more like a story told to music as it's not really sung and doesn't always have a "chorus" so to speak.

Anyway, I consider this one of the best pieces of work I've done so far and it doesn't contain 1 second of actual video as it's just a somewhat slightly fancy slideshow. It may not be great to many others but it was a custom bit of work that means alot to me and is quite moving to my immediate family. I think it almost made my Dad cry and when I watched it again recently, it's not hard for me to understand why. I give most of the credit to the music artists because as George Lucas once said, "The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie," (qtd., IMDb). This is very true in this short 14 and a half minute video and even more so for this clip if you know my Dad or our family very well.

After presenting this to my Dad and the rest of my family, they were impressed. I don't think it was the quality of the work that was so great but that this little clip seemed to capture my Dad's life so well. I don't mean to present this to you as a method for "tooting my own horn" so to speak but so that you may share in some of the enjoyment others have as they've watched this. My brothers claimed that this is what we'll be playing at his funeral, which I hope is many years from in the future.

So without furuther ado, Father's Day:
Google Video:

Documentaries I didn't fall asleep watching

Looks like I'm not the only one who may have watched the documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?". The author at OzTech posted an appropriate blog about GM and their Hybrid mistakes. Oh, the error of their ways. Actually this film actually did quite well for being a documentary. It came out back in 2006, only made $45k it's first weekend but ultimately grossed $1,764,304 worldwide (95% domestically). You can read more about it's statistics here or check out the IMDB listing for more details on the film.

As of this posting, you can watch the entire 92 minutes at Google Video
Or, for your viewing pleasure, here:




To digress a little bit, this might be a good segue to another documentary I just got done watching. My brother really wanted me to watch this one and it's the reason he won't shop at Walmart anymore. Perhaps you have heard of or seen on tv the documentary called Walmart - High Cost of Low Prices
The official website for it is here where you can read about it, see the trailer, "join the revolution", and get additional info. It's really amazing the stuff you don't know and the lengths big companies go to in order to squash, hide, cover up, or eliminate anything that's not in their interest. After watching this, I kind of felt like, among other things, that Walmart was a mafia ran organization. Another real eye opener and a well put together film. It even got some great reviews by the big film critics.

While everyone else is watching the latest superhero movie of 2008 (Ironman, The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II, Hancock) I recomend watching these documentaries (from the comfort of your own home even or anywhere you can get an internet connection). I won't say these movies are necessarily better than those out this summer but once you get done watching those already released, run out of money for the theater, or have some downtime waiting for the next big hit to come out, click on the links above & discover the truth about these behemoth companies.

Speed testing

Ok, so my last post was an attempt at publishing a document from Google Docs directly to a blog site. Obviously it's not perfect but if the document was originally created with Google Docs and/or it was a more simply formatted document, I'm sure it would have been fine.

Anyway I ran some speed tests today and the results were better than I expected. You can run a speed test that will show the ping result along with your upload & download speeds then you can click on a tab to show how you relate to others in the area and the world and your ISP, your city, state, region, etc. Here's my best results today so far:



Like I said, the results were surprising. Apparently my country rank is faster than 94% of and my global rank is faster than 96% of connections. As you can see, I'm using Comcast for my internet. (Though I have Dish Network for my channels.) I've been using Voip.com for my home phone service ever since Sunrocket went out of business last year. The problem with the whole concept is that the quality of service is based on available bandwidth. Now, I'd think that with results like above I should have no problem however that's just not the case. The voip.com hardware connects to my router vs. directly to my cable modem so not only does that use up one of my ports, it also makes it subject to the network traffic on my local home network. (The Sunrocket hardware connected directly to the cable modem and then to my network router.)

Long story short, my wife is pretty sick and tired of this service that is less than 100% reliable when she, apparently frequently enough, experiences no dial tone, can't get incoming calls, can't make outgoing calls, other end can't hear you, etc which makes her hang up and use her cell phone and/or turn on call forwarding online to automatically forward all calls to her cell phone. My experience has not been so frustrating and seems worth it for all the features we get for $16.66/mo. and being able to be free from Qwest (Qworst).

So last week she called me letting me know that someone representing Comcast was going around in our neighborhood door-to-door offering their Digital Voice service for just $5 more per month to our internet bill. (Introductory offer for 12 months.) It seems to have all the same features I already use, they can port my number, and I'm told I won't have a loss or interruption of service. When my wife asked me what I thought I left the final decision up to her and she didn't hesitate one bit. I'm sure she feels glad to be soon rid of the frustrations she's had for the past several months.

I don't use the phone much at home unless I'm working VO. I try to do most of my communication over the internet (e-mail, IM, Blog, and social networking sites). We'll see how it turns out when they set us up later this month. Until then, at least I have fast, reliable internet.

Douglas Rutherford

11041 SE 304^th Pl.

Auburn, WA 98092

Technical Support Engineer Home: 253-887-1348

Cell: 253-740-9585

doug.rutherford@gmail.com

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Ten years experience in IT/IS with an emphasis in the areas of network and server administration as well as hardware and software support. In addition, performed troubleshooting in a mixed Windows and Unix environment. Built, configured, and implemented servers for mail, databases, internet, storage, backups, host applications, as well as other network services. Includes 7 years experience using and supporting Unix and associated scripts, binaries, and client applications. Seeking to work in an organization that will challenge me while taking advantage of my knowledge, skills, and experience.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Windows XP & 2000 as well as previous Microsoft operating systems, Unix. Networking. Microsoft Exchange, MS Office applications. Strong troubleshooting skills in hardware and software (Intel based workstations and servers, Unix, telephony). Phone switch experience with T1 and ISDN line testing and configuration on Avaya Predictive Dialer. Some exposure to Oracle and SQL databases running queries and client applications.

EDUCATION

Bachelors IT Network Administration 2006 American Intercontinental University Hoffman Estates, IL

Recognized on the Dean's List for the entire duration of study with a 4.0 GPA through all classes.

Focused on key areas of Business, Computer Networking, Software Development, and Database Administration. Curriculum based on current industry needs to ensure exposure to real world technical challenges. Studied the business side of the IT industry that requires project management and leadership skills. Developed business and programming skills. Studied the use of networks, education in data administration, as well as the design, management, and completion of IT projects.

AA -Computer Information Systems 2000 Highline Community College Des Moines, WA

MCSE -Training 2000 Micro Learning Center Tukwila, WA

CERTIFICATIONS-

Microsoft Certified Professional 2000

PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

9/2000 To Present Post Sales Support Engineer 2 and 3

Avaya Redmond, WA

Responsible for providing remote post-sales support of hardware systems, sub-systems and/or applications for customers or field personnel utilizing telephone and remote diagnostic capabilities. Supports end-user installations, configurations, upgrades and migrations. Supports 3rd party products and occasional on-site support. Provides solutions to a diverse range of complex problems including hardware, software, telephony, networking & shell scripts in a mixed Unix and Windows environment. Responsible for providing troubleshooting and corrective action technical support to Implementation, Operations and Customer Support. Assesses and responds to situations where routine procedures have failed in isolating and correcting problems. May direct the work of small teams formed to resolve technical problems. Reports design, reliability, and maintenance problems to Product Development; Communicates same to other groups in the company. Assists Product Development in resolving product problems. Worked on project teams and delivered training for globalization efforts. Participated in internal and external audits for ISO-9001 compliance. Delivered training of new product release with hardware details and a focus on software features, changes and capabilities.

8/1997 To 9/2000 Computer & Systems Consultant

Shannon & Associates Kent, WA

Administrator for Local Area NT and Novell Network. Designed, performed, and maintained company wide backup systems. Performed client backups for work with SQL databases. Migrated existing network from 10baseT Coax to 10/100 Fast Ethernet network using CAT5. Migrated e-mail system from Lotus cc:Mail to Microsoft Exchange. Maintained Exchange Servers, e-mail accounts and other Exchange related resources. Trained company staff and management on Microsoft Outlook and e-mail procedures and policies. Built, upgraded and maintained all company computers including servers, hardware, software, and other technical equipment as needed. Set up high speed internet access and proxy server, VPN, anonymous and restricted FTP server, and provided web access to e-mail. Updated and modified company web site. Worked on team projects to meet company and customers needs.

ok so the photo post

ok so the photo post added a bunch of garbage pimping verizon & quicktime. I wonder if there's a way to avoid that.

photo post test

testing making a blog post from my cell with a picture added

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

Computer Spring Cleaning

I got this e-mail from one of the Microsoft newsletters I subscribe to that talked about cleaning up your PC. I expected it would just be about organizing files & icons, uninstalling old software, and backing up & archiving old data. (Find out if you're a "Digital Packrat" here.) While I did find that type of information with links like this one, I followed another link that had some pleasantly surprising results.

Microsoft posted an article written by Alyson Munroe that details instructions for physically cleaning your computer. It tells you what materials you'll need and how to clean your computer components like keyboard, monitor and mouse. However, it also talks about how to clean your computer case, inside and out. Anytime I open my case, I usually take a can of compressed air to it to get rid of all the little dust bunnies inside. This helps the fans (that helped to create the mess in the first place) perform their designed function of cooling the computers internal components better.

The average computer user seems to be more reluctant to open their computer than the hood of their car believing that if they can figure out how to open the case and succeed in doing so that it won't work right afterwards or won't be able to figure out how to close the case again so better to just not mess with it if it's working.

Well, my car continues to work with little to no hassle because I have regular maintenance performed on it so I don't have to shell out unexpected large amounts of cash for repairs down the road or even worse, have to be forced into getting a new car before I planned to. These types of maintenance steps outlined for your computer hardware will prolong the life of you computer and can increase your computers performance.

Speaking of performance, especially if you don't have Windows Vista or don't use the widgets bar, I've been running a free utility called Winbar and I can use it to see my cpu & memory utilization, adjust volume, monitor network traffic, and a variety of other options. It's small and unintrusive yet easily accessible. If the computer starts running slow, I can see quickly if my cpu or memory resources are getting used up then check task manager to find which process is the culprit. The reason I bring this up is after you clean the dust out of the computer and clear the fans, your computer should be able to run cooler thus providing better performance for your cpu. This is one reason some people choose to run liquid cooled computers.

Following basic maintenance steps for keeping your computer running well is easier than trying to fix a tv or kitchen appliance and harder to screw up than you might think. Keep your computer clean to have it run at peak performance and you could prevent a costly upgrade or replacement.

Suburbanite Child

As we were driving through the middle of Missouri yesterday, my wife was commenting on how beautiful the scenery was and how there are other places that can have green landscapes. I like green landscapes myself but almost all my life I've grown up within somewhat close proximity to major cities, moderately populated areas, and places that were centers of business & technology.

Ok, so even out here in Podunk, Missouri (also known as Lake of the Ozarks) I do have decent internet access and Digital Satellite tv can be had almost anywhere so I have to give it that. But when I was younger the standard for whether or not a place was civilized or not was based on if the town had a McDonald's. These days my standards have really been raised allot and you can find McDonald's, Starbucks, and Subway just about everywhere. So when my wife asked me about things that needed to be considered for places I would live, I had to think for a moment. Then after some thought about what qualities need to be in an area before I move there (all of about 10 seconds of deep analysis) I told her I couldn't move anywhere that didn't have a Best Buy or something similar (not Circuit City, they have terrible customer service and I'm ashamed to even use those words in the same sentence) within 10-15 miles of my front door. 20 miles was just too far away. I didn't say it at the time but I think I would also like to stay the same distance from a major airport as well given how much I'd like to travel and/or have relatives visit.

Now that I've taken the time to check, there's actually more Best Buy stores around than I thought. On the way to Osage Beach, MO. we passed through the capitol of Missouri, Jefferson City (still about 50 miles away). Come to find out there's a Best Buy there. When we got off the plane in St. Louis, we drove about 90 minutes west to Columbia and there's a Best Buy there. Of course the University is also there (where my wife's brother is an ENT doctor.) So Best Buy's are not too far away but I'm not driving more than an hour to go to the airport in order to get from one major city to another.

Despite the amount of online purchases I make, it's not the fact that I shop at places like Best Buy a great deal either. I just know that if there's that kind of place around, it's going to be surrounded by several other places I like to go. Not only that, it's not that I do go to those places, there's some comfort in just knowing that the option is there and I can go if I want to.

Endless Activities

There's really so much to do and so little time. Many things I want to do but I try to make sure I get the things done I need to do. Things at the top of my list I need to do include family time and that's a big one that I try to make more of yet it struggles with the side of me that wants to do other things that are solo. Most if of those solo activities are centered around the computer, the internet, and online technologies. Still offline I'm trying to learn SQL (as I've mentioned before) and get back into digital video editing.

Perhaps one day I'll post the early video I did for my Dad for Father's Day a few years ago. It was just basically a slide show set to music with some nifty transitions and a few effects but it kind of depicted my Dad's life in chronological order and the pictures and music really went together well, especially the last song. If you haven't heard it (and most people haven't) click on the link above. It's by a local artist called 2NU.

There's also a part of me that hasn't entirely moved away from playing console and computer games and I haven't even played (let alone beaten) all the original Xbox games I have, nevermind thinking about a 360 even though a part of me would like to play the rest of the Halo story. I stopped playing WoW because the whole thing is just too time consuming taking away from many of the other above activities I'd like to do.

I haven't beaten Crysis yet partially because it's a resource hog and I know a better $200 video card would make it look so much better (and right now I'd like my funds to go elsewhere, like 2-way radios and other camping equipment). The game is fun but I went back to trying to finish F.E.A.R. One of the few games I haven't tried using cheats on yet. I'll play maybe once or twice a week when I need a stress reliever but generally speaking I know that a better use of my time is going to be activities that either teach me something, create memories, or helps someone. If I can get myself involved in an activity that does all of those things, then I'm doing pretty good and I feel happy about what I'm doing. So, the search continues for finding a balance and on that note, I'm off to Tai Chi.

E-Mail Chain Validation

I'm still surprised at times when I get an e-mail forwarded to me that claims something is true without anyone having checked the validity of the contents. I recently got an e-mail regarding this Dr. Dobson Petition and there were almost 3000 names on it already when it came to me. To me it should be common practice to people to do a quick & simple internet search to find out more information before blindly forwarding stuff to everyone on your contacts list. Even if the e-mail already has a link attempting to validate the information, I'm going to want more than one source reporting the same thing. One person forwarding an e-mail with 0-1 sources does not validate the contents.

I will usually copy/paste some main part of the text into Google and I'll typically quickly find several resources that discuss the origin and validity of the information in the e-mail. Then I will reply to all on the e-mail I got and post a few of those links letting them know where to find more information and encouraging them to do likewise in the future when they get e-mails like this and are tempted to forward them to people. I would like to encourage your circle of contacts (friends, relatives, community, etc) to squash useless e-mail chains instead of fueling them. What the world needs now is more useful information and less useless information to fill up our in-boxes, bog down the mail servers, and waste our time reading the garbage.

Embracing Online Technology

The other day I was helping my brother with his computer issues. He had reinstalled his OS because of some buggy virus like problems. So we began to reinstall things and I took the opportunity to show him some nifty tools many people know about but still are new to some.

Since we were planning our end of the month camping trip, I wanted to show him the benefits of Google Docs to create and share text, spreadsheets, and presentations. That led to a tangent of documenting things online and I directed his attention to the Google Toolbar Beta 5 which has a button for Google Notebook which lets you make notes without leaving your current web page, clip links, and copy sections of the web page kind of like creating an online Favorites that you can share with others. Then of course we had to install Adobe Air (so we could install Twhirl), Acrobat Reader, and Shockwave. I then directed him to install Quicktime followed by Divx and Firefox.

He sat there thinking for a moment wondering what else he was forgetting to update his computer with so it would run with the technologies and programs he was used to using. With all these online tools and technologies available to us today, it's easy to forget what's working in the background to make everything work everyday so we can enjoy our online lives of business, entertainment, and a wide variety of other purposes.

As an offline tool for on the go, I showed them GOOG-411 and the competing free service from Microsoft, Live Search at 800-225-5411. I hadn't played with Live Search too much before but we liked how they would send you text messages about business you were trying to find and connect you for free to that business. Live search also let you find movies, weather, and other services for free from any phone by responding to your voice commands.

We agreed that we look forward to using these existing tools and waiting to see what these great minds will be bringing us in the future.