Working from Home

I'm working from home this morning while I'm waiting for a guy to come take a look at our septic line that has separated and been in-grown with roots. At the surface, working from home is great. No commute, free food, no cow-irkers to distract me. And since Kathryne and the boys are out of town, you would think there would be even less distraction. Unfortunately, the cats are not out of town and think I'm staying home to play with them. Then there's always the call of "World of Warcraft" and other not-so-much-work activities.

I post this because one of the new jobs I'm looking at taking would involve working from home for the next few months until they can get an actual office in Austin. Our current house is very ill-equipped for this sort of thing having no area where I can go to be away while the family is home. So in our new house, we're going to make sure there is at least 1 area that is somewhat isolated for office use (and just getting away from the noise of 2 boys running around).

If I do take this job, there's a possibility of using some office space temporarily at a former employer, which would be cool if not somewhat awkward at first.

For now, I just have to ignore K.C. (the cat) and carry on with my work.

Vista Rocks!

The new Windows Vista is the most awesomest thing since Texas-sized sliced bread. It's got this cool clock and can do everything wicked fast.

It's "da Bomb", "da Man", and "da Bears" all wrapped up in one.

Disclaimer:
I'm posting this in the hope of getting a free laptop from Microsoft's PR firm so I can talk about how great Vista is.
See Joel and Scoble for more information.

"I have the Power"

Well, Kathryne may enjoy the 26 hours without electronic interference,
but it was driving me crazy. When the lights came back on at 11:30
this evening, I could feel then energy coursing through my veins.
Actually, we spent the better part of the day out running errands. We
ate breakfast at the McDonalds in Silverdale and it only took 45
minutes to get the food. There are like 5 places in the area that
serve breakfast that had power and all were crowded. Then we got our
electronics fix at Worst Sell and ate lunch at the Black Eagle.
previous sentence has been encrypted with our super secret code which
unfortunately our kids have already broken.>

We went to see "Charlotte's Web" tonight. I cried like 5 times. It
was very well done and really brought the book to life. That's some
pig.

Show me the way

When the right opportunity comes, will I know? Knowing the future is highly overrated. I have a hard enough time knowing what to do in the present (though knowing the future might make that easier, or it might make it harder as I wonder whether there is anything I should do to change the future or I get paralyzed with fear that I will bring the whole space-time continuum to its knees).

When the right job comes along will I know? Times like this I wish God would come down, set up a giant spinner with all the choices available (like in a board game), and spin me around so that where my head lands is the direction I am to go. Barring that, skywriting or other heavenly signs would work too. Having options is nice, but sometimes the decision making process is so stressful that you just want to curl up in the fetal position and wait for the future to pass you by.

From the words of a song I need to listen to some more:
If you say go, we will go
If you say wait, we will wait
If You say step out on the water
And they say it can't be done
We'll fix our eyes on You and we will come
Your ways are higher than our ways
And plans that You have laid
Are good and true
If You call us to the fire
You will not withdraw Your hand
We'll gaze into the flames and look for You

Free Hot Java!

Following in the vein of my string of bandwagon tech new release posts, Java 6 has been released. This one actually affects me somewhat though I probably won't get to use it seriously for a few months at least.

Try it now. It's free.

Also my new favorite song is "White and Nerdy" by Weird Al. I've always liked him, but this release hits close to home. Also, "The Saga Begins" from 1999 is a winner. Check out Al's myspace page page to listen to the song or watch the video.

Life as Speck

[reposted from my MySpace blog]

What is a company's most valuable asset? For a software company (and probably just about any company) the most correct answer is "It's employees". At least that's how I think it should be.

Software, intellectual property, capital assets, etc. are stuck in time and only change at the execution of the employees. If there are no employees then what you have now is what you'll have in the future. As markets shift, you need to be able to move along with the flow. Only the employees can make this happen. If suddenly the customer doesn't give a rip about your current software (and they sure don't care that you consider it IP) and they want something new, you can either give it to them or wither on the vine.

The kind of company I want to find to work for is one that values its employees highly and shows it not just through compensation, but also in the general attitudes of the management.

Also, perception and reality are very different things. Different employees may look at the same company differently based on their roles and experiences past and present. So it's really all about feelings and perceptions as are most things when dealing with other members of the human race.

Just some things I've been thinking about. I wanted to write them down to help make a decision about whether to stay where I am or venture into something new.

Gmail Milestone

I'm now using 1% of my gmail space. Woohoo.

You are currently using 21 MB (1%) of your 2785 MB.


I guess there's some rounding involved.

I've been using gmail for all my personal stuff lately and it's very nice to have it all available over the internet. I also just started using Google Reader for all the RSS feeds (news and blogs) that I read every day. I was using Mozilla Thunderbird but now I can access my subscriptions from anywhere and the interface isn't too bad. I'm getting used to it. I used to just read the blogs while at work, but now I can read all the same ones at home or wherever.

And yes, Kara, I truly am a geek.

Testing Google Calendar

Here's a link to the publicly available calendar for the Central Kitsap church of Christ hosted on Google Calendar:



Right now we're still testing things out but so far it looks really useful.

In Sickness and in Health

When do we get to health part? :) Kathryne's managed to be healthy lately, but the rest of us have been fighting coughs and colds for the last couple weeks. We're finally seeming to get over it. I haven't not been congested since Thanksgiving. We really need to switch our carpeting to hard flooring. Also the windows need some work. I’m reminded of George Bailey's line in "It's a Wonderful Life" about the old drafty house. The weather's been fairly warm for a while unlike many parts of the country.

I'm getting ready to leave for Korea again in a few weeks. It's really cold there now.

We got Joshua some new clothes with the b-day gift card. I finally used my B&N gift card from Krista to get "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. I've also recently read "They Smell Like Sheep" by Lynn Anderson as part of our elders and deacons leadership seminar. It's a very good book that I would recommend reading if you get the chance.

We should have some new pix of the boys soon. Kathryne took to JC Pennys after Joshua's b-day and got some of just Joshua and some of them together. We also have at least a dozen roles of film that we need to get developed.

We're all staying very busy these days and I need to get to sleep.

Have a good week.

2.5 days left

We've got 2.5 days left to work and lots more to do.

I'm feeling mostly better but i'm really ready to come home.

Web Cam

Here's a web camera that another developer put up in our work area. From about 3PM PST on it updates during the day. You can generally see me with my back to the camera on the other side of the room.

Happy Birthday

I can't believe my little (?) bother... i mean brother... is 17 today. Happy birthday Daniel.

I'm feeling a little better but I'm almost out of my Korean cocktail of drugs. What's actually made me feel the best is the Tylenol cold medicine that I brought with me. I have had to replenish my supply of cough drops.

Things are going well here from a work standpoint, but I am really ready to come home.

Here's a link to a clock to see what time it is in four areas in which I have family:
Personal World Clock

Dr. Doctor

I'm going to try to go to a doctor on base tomorrow if possible. I thought my cough was getting better but now I'm starting to feel it more in my chest. Hopefully there will be somewhere I can go. If not, maybe I'll try a local remedy.

I'm getting to watch Survivor on the armed forces network. I think "The Apprentice" was on at 8, but we were out at dinner. I was starting to feel pretty bad (sweating and coughing) but then we started talking politics and my blood got pumping and I'm feeling much better now.

Have a good Friday. Mine is almost over. Tomorrow is Saturday, but there's more work to do.

Native Cuisine

After 2 full days here in Korea, it's starting to feel like a Little America. I'm feeling very comfortable now in the sorrounding even though it is really hard to order food and even harder to know how to eat it. Starting last night, we went on a mostly native diet. With the exception of breakfast, we're trying to eat the local food. We've had good luck so far. They serve lots of little dishes that you mix and match together with some meat to make your meal. Last night we put the meat and toppings on two differnt kinds of lettuce and rolled it up. It's felt like eating Korean fajitas. I'm getting better with the chop sticks but my hand starts to cramp during the middle of the meal and i get sloppy.

The weather has been great here. It gets up to 60 degrees in the afternoon. The mornings are a bit nippy as we walk to the base, but we soon warm up as we crowd 8 developers and 15 computers into a 10x20 room with no ventalation.

Jonathan is actually trying to learn the language and the culture a little bit. I'm just trying not to get lost or eat the wrong thing.

Hopefully we'll get some sight seeing time, but current plans are to work through the weekend.

Time for bed. Have a good rest of the week.

Home sweet Korea

We made it without incident to Korea. We're staying at the Howard Hotel just outside the army base. This is a very Americanized area but with enough differences that you know something is not quite right.

We ate breakfast on base this morning for $1.70. I've never had biscuits and gravy that cheap before and they were pretty good.

The hotel is nice with a TV and internet connectivity. There are 70+ channels and even a few English ones. Luckily the toilets are not the Japanees style sit on the floor. I did see those in the Tokyo airport, but opted not to press my luck and try to use them.

It's pretty cold here right now compared to the Northwest, but it's not really bad. The worst part is the smeel which some of the others said I would get used to before the day is over.

There's a church right next to the hotel and a large Baptist church just across from the base. Korea seems to be a thouroughly Christianized country so I shouldn't have trouble finding somewhere to worship on Sunday and maybe even Wednesday.

That's all for now.

Be careful what you ask for

Whenever you ask God to bless you or something you are doing, you had better be ready for the result.

My mom tells the story of when she was pregnant with my little (not so much anymore) brother. We all prayed for a little boy after having 2 straight girls. When Dan was born, he had a head of hair that made him look like a little boy rather than a newborn infant.

Well we've been praying for our LTC program which we've gotten started recently. We were hoping for 5-10 participants this year to get things going. Tonight we had 20 who have committed to participating this year. We're still getting organized and things are a little rough, but apparently God wants us to do much more than we asked or even imagined.

So we have our work cut out for us. I'm also in charge of VBS for next summer so I'll be more careful with that one... Just kidding.

Keep on praying.

Let the games begin

With all the exit polls, pundits, and weather forecasts, it's hard to know what is really going on. We'll have to wait and see.

One thing is for sure. This is the most recent election in the history of our country.

Voting Bandwagon

Well the rules of blogging state that you have to have an entry on election day telling people to vote so here is the obligatory blog entry.

Seriously, God has granted us freedom in our lives. We have free will to make our own choices each day of whether to follow Him and how best to do so. In the USA, we are also blessed to be free to choose our leaders. Most humans do not have this freedom at least not to the extent that we do. Though it is good to realize that there are two new countries embarking on the rocky road to self-government.

Whoever you vote for, please vote and please pray that God will bless our leaders to make wise decisions.

The big focus is on the Presidential election, but I think that the local races have a greater impact on our daily lives than the national races. So don't forget to vote for the local candidates and make an informed decision.

A Fridge'd Day

We had a rainy day which we spent inside working on the kitchen. I also made two trips to Lowe’s in support of our efforts. Sean built some really cool roller coasters on the computer game and Joshua did his normal thing of playing with trains while telling stories about Thomas and Percy, watching videos, and drinking milk.

The new fridge is still sitting in our living room while the old one is sitting in our front yard (I need to call Sears about that). Most of my day was spent with running a water line to the fridge and scraping up the old floor. We tried taking the line down and under the house and over to where the fridge is. The first problem was that there was a cinder block wall about 3 feet short of the fridge, but there was a cinder block turned sideways to allow some cables to pass thru. Surely there would be another entrance to get around the wall. Well, there wasn’t, and don’t call me Shirley. So after drilling both the holes (which we now have to patch) we took the hose through the under the sink wall, below the drawers, through the side wall into the closet, along the closet wall, and finally into the cubby for the fridge. Now we just have to prime the floor, lay the tile and move in the fridge. Oh, that’s assuming that we can get the fridge by the bar. If not, then it’s bye-bye bar. We’re going to take it out sometime, but hopefully that won’t be tomorrow.

Back from DC

I just returned from a trip to Washington DC. 30 minutes after landing at SeaTac, Mt. St. Helens did its thing. Sean was very excited about the volcano interrupting.

Someday, i'm going to take the whole family with me on the trip to DC and we'll stay some extra time and go sightseeing.

Mom comes tomorrow. I left the airport today about the same time she lands tomorrow. Luckily traffic won't be too bad tomorrow.

In other news, I may be going to Korea at the end of November. Lots of frequent flier miles. A coworker told me that when he was there it always smelled like someone forgot to flush the toilet. I'm psyched.