Happy New
Well hello everybody! I'm breaking my trend of total silence on this eve of great change in my life. Tomorrow I start my new job. I'll get back to doing what I love, as opposed to what I'm good at, perhaps; though I'd argue I'm a million times better writing code than maintaining systems. It does seem that I always end up on the system administration end of the job spectrum. Let's see how long I can keep those talents secret (logic here, he already blabbed that in the interview). Anyhow. I'll be going back to software engineering after what turned out to be a 7...8-ish month hiatus to do administration. I obviously don't know much for details for this new gig yet, but it's some sort of thing that does stuff given inputs! That's unique!
Updates all around, Arden is 3 now and is really growing up fast. He's been pretty strong with the potty training. Before Christmas he was on an 8-day dry streak, since then the accidents have been much more prevalent. That's been sorta rough on me, I was so excited for him. I still am, don't get me wrong, but it's tough to see him regress, even if it is for good reason. He's still very much into puzzles and games. He'll sit in a room with a puzzle (more likely a set of puzzle) for hours if you'd let him. He's been more into role play lately, and is starting to discover wrestling around. I was glad to see him and his 5-year-old cousin about dead-even in a wrestling match for a while, though he was out-skilled and out-scrapped in the end. I shouldn't be risking the jinx here, but he's been pretty good about keeping the wrestling to a brother-friendly level most of the time since we've been home. Arden is in an extremely sweet place in his development. He takes such great care of his brother and his parents. Almost every day when Ensel gets upset, Arden will deliver a book or a toy with a, "Are you OK, Ensel" and a hug or kiss.
Ensel has been going and going and going! From the time he wakes up until he crashes again he's following that big brother around, trying to do everything he does. He's also getting some tricks of his own. One of our favorites is when he runs to an apparently magic spot, screeches to a stop and flops down on the ground and lies there for as long as it takes to get extra attention. He'll hold that pose for a little bit after that, but will usually only stay in one flop for 30-45 seconds before the next spot on the ground has to be blessed. He's also becoming quite an opinionated guy. When he wants something he'll point unwaveringly at it and either say the word for what he wants, if he's learned it, or just grunt. If you grab the wrong thing (or ask him a question...pretty much any question) that little head spins on his neck in an extremely clear 'no'. He's learning lots and lots of words, and his tongue is struggling to keep up with all those new sounds. Some of the clearest are cracker, "cra-`kuh", Mommy, and hat. Oh does he love hats! He'll always point out when daddy or mommy is wearing a hat, or when a character in a book is wearing a hat...or when a bowl, some food or a toy can be made into a hat.
Mom has been running her little self ragged lately. It's better now that the Christmas season is winding down. We did homemade gifts for her family this year, which turned out really well, but consumed what little spare time she's been able to muster. Those who also follow her at http://www.arijem.com will notice that her site is...quite different lately. I totally dropped the ball and let her registration expire. I forgot to update my email address with our registrar (which still isn't done, btw), so by the time we noticed her site was expiring it was too late and had entered the service-by-extortion renewal periods. For the uninitiated it works somewhat like this. You register a domain (usually $7-15 a year) and it's yours until it expires. Before that happens you usually get a notice that your domain is going out of contract. If it does go out, most domain services will park it for a while, just putting up a page that says that "this domain is about to expire". As the registrant you could pay them the "minor" convenience charge of around $80 to reclaim the address. After that parking period it goes into general de-registration. Usually this is a 45-day cycle before the domain name is actually freed up. I figured with a site like hers it would be pretty easy to pick it up on the flip side, and register it as a new registration. I had been unaware that sites like eNom existed. Essentially what they do is hammer the registration servers trying to register every domain that's about to be deleted as frequently as they can get away with it, which is clearly enough to step in and grab a domain within the first few hours it's available. They then turn around and try to sell those domains on bids...which start at $60 or more. So...needless to say, stay tuned for the new URL for AJ's sites.
As for me, like I said, new job coming up. It's very exciting, but always an unsure time for me. I'm very excited to add a new group of people to my life, to pick up some new skills, and to see what of my skills will be beneficial for LodgeNet. It's funny...out of all the Sioux Falls employers I was highly interested in in my last years of college, I've either worked for or at least gotten pre-offers from all of them. Here's hoping this one works out long-term. I hate switching jobs. I'm probably most excited about this because I'll be able to leave work at work again. For me that's one of the best things about software engineering. There's not a whole lot (usually) that follows you home. System Administration, on the other hand, especially when you're in charge is being on-edge 25/8 and never being able to realax. So excited to close that chapter of my life.
I think that's about it for now,
Until next time!
Another storm rolls through our Backyard
Just wanted to share a photo of our neighbor's nice evergreen...well formerly nice.
Advent Conspiracy?
Definitely something to consider, although probably a bit late for most of us. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Me So Seepy
Quick update, everything has been going quite well here at home. Arden is adjusting to having Ensel, Mom and I are still working on that a little bit though. Milk has started to come in, and in force, so Ensel should be plumping up quite nicely.
So far our biggest challenge has been working with Arden's patience. He's so used to getting what he wants when he wants it, but now he's got to start waiting until Ensel has what he needs before he (Arden) gets what he wants. Se la vie.
And now I drag my old-man butt off to bed. Many thanks again to everyone for the wonderful support and generosity.
Blog Updatified!
There, now that all the annoying catch-up work is done my blog backend is finely (and finally) tuned. Expect me to post more soon!
Daily List – Shoutout to Scott Bourne
I know I missed my normal daily list schedule, but there really wasn't a whole lot happening. I just wanted to let you guys know about a new Scott Bourne's fairly new website and upcoming podcast all about managing your digital life. Check him out at mydl.me. I'd also very highly suggest any of Scott's other podcasts. He's very knowlegable and makes it very clear that he's got a passion for photography, Macs and keeping all that stuff safe.
Daily List
Tech: Batteries with built-in chargers.
Food: Free food too good to be true? "We do not except [sic] coupon[...]"