Christmas 2010

Another Christmas has come and gone.  It was good to spend time with family.  But the loss of my wife's and my father this year has had an impact.  Neither of us was very close to our fathers but their loss was felt during the holiday season.

With the health issues that other members of the family have, I think we will be loosing more before next Christmas.

New Router

After a power surge bricked my router, I went out a purchased a Linksys E1000.  I did have problems getting it set up, which is not what I had experienced from Linksys products before.  After trying different approaches, I started an online chat with Cisco tech support.  In less than 20 min the issue was identified and new install software downloaded.  Following the instructions provided, I got the router set up in 15 minutes.  Took about an hour to get all my network rebuilt, but everything is working.


This week is the last week of testing for the phase II of my major .Net application.  I hope that the testers do what they are supposed to do.  This project has high visibility and I want a clean go live.  

Son's First Visit Home

My son who left for his freshman year in college in August came home for the holiday weekend. It was a great visit; I think he is adjusting well. We will all miss him but he will be home again in a month or so.

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Son off to College

Today took my son to start his freshman year at college. It will be strange not seeing him everyday. I hope he has a great four years.

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Son is Off to College

Tomorrow my second oldest son leaves for his freshman year at college. While I know this will be a wonderful experience for him, I will worry about him. With all the medical issues he had, I hope that he thrives at school. O am sure we will keep in touch. It will seem very strange no seeing him every day.

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Buried My Father

Today I buried my father. It seems strange that I will never see or talk with him again.

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My Father Passes

24 hours ago at 10:55 pm on August 12, 2010 my father P. Richard Henry passed away.  Today was busy collecting his personal papers and making the final arraignments for him.  He and I were not really close but we got along fine and spent some time together.  Despite all our faults (his and mine) we were father and son.  I will miss him. 

Work Week Winding Down

Another fun work week is coming to a close. I got quite a lot done this week even though we are short handed. One major web project went live early and I got two major requirements done for another. I was to have a budget application go live today but testing started late and the manager of the application is not around to sign off.

The freelance project just keeps going and going. I released it two weeks ago and now the client wants the site layout changed. We will meet next week to discuss.

Hopefully this weekend I can get a serious start on some Silverlight development.

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First Droid Post

I am seeing how posting from my droid works. Maybe I will be a more regular poster.

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New Mobile.... Finally!

After waiting two years, I have finally gotten a smart phone.  Boy, did I go to the top of the currently available phones.  On Friday, 05.14.2010 I bought a HTC Droid Incredible.  I cannot believe how great this piece of tech is.  I have been playing with it for two days and can't believe what this phone and the applications that have been written can do.  For me, this phone has performed beyond my expectations in ever way.  I am still getting used to the touch screen keyboard but my slowness is an issue with me and not the phone.  As I get more usage out of it I will let everybody know the pros and cons as I see them.


I am just about done with the freelance job that I have been working on.  I have all the photos and text that I will need.  I will be glad to get the site out to the customer so she can start using it.  It's taken longer then I expected but some things were out of my control.   

Major Microsoft Upgrade

Two weekends ago, I finally did a major upgrade of my main workstation.  I had been a bit worried about Windows 7; I had installed it for one of my children and was having issues (I thought) getting my wireless printer hooked up.  The manufacturer's site said I had to cable the printer to the PC.  Since it's on the other side of the room that was going to be a pain.  I figured I would give Windows a chance to find it and install it.  Worked fine.

I then went ahead and installed Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010, and Office 2010.  After two weeks.... Nice job Microsoft.  I am no Microsoft Fan-boy, but they did a great job here.  I am looking forward using these apps.

Web Application Go Live

Monday, the big project that I have been that I have been working on the last few months web live.  Everything went smoother that I expected.  There were a few very minor issues; mostly user questions.  This is just Phase I of the application; we already have our list of enhancements for Phase II.  The plan is to release this application throughout the organization once Phase II is complete.  If that happens, my team and I will get some very high visibility.

I the mean time I have been tasked with doing a major rewrite of another web application.  It needs so work to polish it up. Most of the code (which I didn't write) is pretty solid.  It also has hight visibility so I want to make sure all the client issues are addressed.

Web Developer Web Site

I ran across a very useful web site on Slashdot the other day.  The site is called Smashing Magazine and it's filled with well written articles on all phases of web design.  The original Slashdot article was talking about the book that the site has just put out but for now I am more interested in the site itself.  In addition to the articles the site contains many useful downloads.  I highly recommend checking the site out.

On a related note, once my freelance project is completed (next week I hope), I am going to finally do a total overhaul of my personal site.  Curently the whole site is password protected and has not been redone since 2007.  I am going to see if I can include some Silverlight based controls.

Father-in-Law Passes

This afternoon at about 4:00 p.m. my wife's father passed away.  Even though they were not very close, his death has had an impact on her.  She was with him at the end which makes it even harder on my wife.  He was heavily medicated at the end so the end was painless as possible.

Requiescat in Pace

Getting Slammed with Snow

No work today. I live in the northeast and am really getting slammed by the snow storm. I had a terrible time getting home last night but I made it with no damage to the car. Today there was no way I was going to be able to get in. I'll bet that I will be not going anywhere tomorrow.

I stepped out and took a few photos from my garage. If you are living in warm climates this is what you are missing...Not.

I did bring some work home so I can get payed for at least part of the day. I am just finishing up a major project for the client. So far everyone is very happy with it. If successful it's going to be a big accomplishment and become very well know in certain circle.

Here are some more snow pictures. THINK SPRING!!

Blogs and Other Social Media

Despite my extensive use of the web, until recently I never was into the social media aspect of the internet. Now that I have started a new job and am separated from people that I have known for years, I find that I am able to stay in touch with them. In addition, I have started to get back in touch with my classmates from collage via Facebook. I am not to the point that I think I'll start using Twitter; I can't seem to keep this blog updated very often.