Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas blog readers!

Sponge Bob Lego

My middle son received a Sponge Bob lego set. My good friend Bruce hung around an helped me build it. It took well over an hour, but we work pretty good as a team. Here is a result, and my two young boys who also approve of it.




(Thanks for the assist Bruce.)

Bowling Cake

We celebrated my middle son's birthday. He's 8. My mom always makes cool themed cakes for my kids. My son wanted a bowling themed cake. Here is the result.


(way to go mom... great job)

My folks, brother, sister and me. (1978)

Here's a photo of my folks, brother, sister and me from 1978!

9 Year Anniversary

My wife and I have been married 9 years (and three days). We're going out to celebrate tonight.

I love you sweet wife!

2009 Family Video

The 2009 Family Video has been edited and an initial render has been prepared succesfully. I've been preparing the family videos as gifts for about 6 years now. I think I've finally figured out how to sidestep most of the big issues. For example, if I render the video as a DVD it will fail every time. The video is long enough and contains enough photos and transistions that it crashes. However, I can render the video as a single AVI without any difficulty. This single AVI will render as a DVD with no trouble, so I use as the basis for the final copy and add all the menus at the last minute.

This years video clocks in at 36 minutes. That's pretty close to what I've been hitting the past few years. I'm satisfied with it. Hopefully everyone will enjoy it.

My youngest son (6 years old) thanked me for working hard on the video. That really made my day.

Cool Leaves!

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/bio-diversity/

Home Repair Light – Broken Doors

I came home tonight (Friday night) ready to kick back and relax at the end of another work week. My eldest son was kind enough to empty the dishwasher upon request but accidentally broke a new thermos. I went for the vacuum to clean up the shards of class insulation that shattered. They key to the closet door would not work. I fumbled with the keys for a few minutes before I notice the door was smashed in several degrees beyond where it was supposed to be. I could see the molding the door rests against was smashed back into the door frame. Several good tugs and the door snapped back into position, and then I was able to unlock and open it.

The molding for the door was smashed in and all the nails had been pulled out. It looks like it rested on heavy duty staples to keep in place. I was quite upset about the door, and asked my eldest son if he knew what had happened. He did not but said he noticed it a few days ago. I asked if he was aware of any other broken doors and he motioned to the door below the kitchen sink.


Sure enough that was broken too, as if someone had kicked it in. The recessed part of the door frame had been punched out the back take the sturdier wood that surrounded it with it.

I vacuumed first.

Then I managed to pull the closet door back into place. I used nails that were comparable in length to what was there, but I don’t believe they were nails intended for wood. Still the door if functional and the nails won’t be seen by human eyes. The frame is fixed but if you look you can tell it’s not quite where it was and a small amount of unstained wood is visible.


The kitchen door under the sink was much more difficult. The wood itself was shattered, cracked and damaged. I took the door off and was able to push the recessed piece of wood back into place with some effort. The shattered wood is glued back on. It would have been smart to hold it together with clamps overnight, but I can not find our clamps. I secured it under something heavy for about 30 minutes (the remainder of my patience for the evening the reattached the door. From the outside the door looks ok, but it’s quite stress and damaged. Although no one knows how it was damaged, clearly it will not withstand a second blow of the same force.


My eldest son and I agreed that there are only three people in the house with the strength to damage doors in this manner; his mother, him and me. We agreed that we would both be extra careful about the force we use when opening and closing doors. We also agreed they would not be closed by kicking them ever again.

This says it all...

Home Repair Saga

I've taken today and this Friday off to be around while work is being done at the house. Thankfully my folks and my in-laws have been able to watch the house earlier this week. (THANK YOU!!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!)

This is the final phase of the home repair due to the leaky toilet saga. If you are not familiar with the story here are the relevant links to the earlier chapters.

* Part 1: The saga begins
* Part 2: Clean up and restoration.
* Part 3: It's dry, we're ready to fix it

This previous weekend Shannon, Shannon's folks and I moved all the furnature to make room for the workers to do their stuff. Monday and Tuesday they scraped the ceiling. Today (Wednesday) they sanded and primed. It sounded like the ceiling would be sprayed today, dry over 24-36 hours then be painted on Friday. That's changed a few times. We heard they'd spray today, tomorrow, then the latest is they can do it today. If so this is great their will be no work done tomorrow. After the painting they may not be able to get the fan and fixtures up. Sounds like they might get that done on Saturday, but we'll see. If they can't it will be next Monday. Shannon and I are anxious for the house to be back together.

Here are photos of the house under construction:

Monday Night October 19th:






Today, Wednesday October 21st:






Thanks to all who have helped with this repair effort!

---

Sounds like there is more prep today and the ceiling will indeed be sprayed tomorrow. UGH! Guess I've got to hustle around and see if I can find help watching the house tomorrow, or I'll telecommute/take more time off. Either way it will get done. I sincerely hope the fixtures can go back in on Friday or Saturday. I do not want this to bleed into next week.

Blue Man Group

I've been aware of Blue Man Group for years, but never heard or watched much. I saw most of their Megastar Rockstar concert on HD TV tonight. Fabulous stuff. I am now officially a fan.

Blue Man Group - Drumbone
Uploaded by garthy4u. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

A Good Week

It's very easy to focus on the challenges we are facing day in and day out. It also tends to be what we share with others. This week had some minor challenges for me, sick children, busy schedules at work, preparing for some home repair, I did not do particularly well with diet or exercise his week, etc... but it also was a very good week. I had many wonderful moments with my wife and kids. I saw a fascinating motivational presentation at Central High School that my son recommended. Most of all I am left feeling upbeat and happy do to comments I received related to work.

This past week was the annual leadership workshop where I work. Leaders from various chapters around the United States and internationally were all in town for a few days. I went to a meeting to listen to comments and questions about some projects I am involved in. While there I was surprised and humbled by how many people seemed to know who I was, and took time to express appreciation for the work that I do. One individual in particular shook my hand and said that many people across the country were benefiting from the work I was doing, and that it was both appreciated and noticed. I feel much appreciated in general at work, but I was deeply flattered and humbled that this person took the time to say something so kind. It really made my week. It’s the kind of thing I needed to write down and remember on days that do not seem as positive.

Avatar

I'm officially excited about the new James Cameron moving coming out this December. His stuff is always entertaining, and often exceptional.

3 Questions for a Redneck Engineer

Question # 1:


How much does a house weigh?



Question # 2:



How much weight can a rural two-lane bridge Hold???








And

Question # 3


WOULD THIS BE COVERED BY


HOME INSURANCE,

CAR INSURANCE,

OR, DOES

IT COME UNDER ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE ???











Y' ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY NOW, YA' HEAR!!!!!

Dancing Baby

Tales of my sons.

My middle son and his friend came tearing through the house, a little wet. They stopped and accused my youngest son of picking up the sprinkler and getting them wet. Then my youngest son came through soaked, dripping water on the floor. When I asked him if he sprayed his brother he told me, 'No I haven't been near the water' with a completely straight face.

This past thursday, I walked upstairs to find five small children. Two were my own. One was a little boy from the neighborhood, and the other two, well I don't know who they are or where they came from. My wife seems to have the situation well in hand. I promptly turned around and walked back downstairs.

My eldest son ran a cross country meet today. I was extremely impressed and proud of his performance. I have never been able to do anything quite like that, I have bad feet that have always made it difficult for me to run long distances.

The Bathroom Saga

Well the saga continues.

I met with Serv Pro today. The downstairs has dried out. Tomorrow a construction boss will check it out and recommend a method for fixing the ceiling.

The floor of the upstairs bathroom has not dried out. Tomorrow they will demo it and in the very near future, replace it.

Shannon is meeting with the claims adjuster now to make sure we're in good shape on all of this.

If you need to catch up, here are the first two parts of the saga.

Part 1

Part 2

Star Trek Humor

Star Trek & Monty Python


Star Trek & The A-Team

Toilet / Water Damage Clean Up

Shannon wisely called the insurance company. We leaned that if we didn't take steps to preserve the property insurance might not covern any claims, so we had Serv Pro come out. Serv Pro directly bills insurance and works with them, so that's a pretty good deal. At any rate, I was wondering how much help we would need, but I am very glad we called them.

Here's a video with the gear the brought in:

They had a sensor that could detect moisture in the walls and cealing, I knew ceiling would act like a sponge but I was truly surprised at how far the water had spread. It even went down into one wall.

When it's dried out the ceiling can be repaired. They may take out a large area of the ceiling, otherwise it won't match. It's very loud in our house right now due to the fans, but it's getting done.

The lipstick issue

This is a funny story posted by a friend of mine, Trey, on Facebook.

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lip stick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses).

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.
He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
There are teachers ... and then there are educators

Cracked Toilet and Wet Ceiling

I need a cup of coffee.

I got up about 30 minutes ago, around 6am, to alarmed voices about a problem in the boys bathroom. I was worried we had an issue that would rival the infamous toys in the toilet incident, but it's not quite that bad. Unforunately the problem was upstairs and we've got some ceiling damage downstairs in the living room.

Here's a photo of the toilet:

It took me about 15 minutes to find the hairline crack running along the back of the tank. I spend my time initially checking all the seals and the hose running from the wall to the toilet. It never occured to me the ceramic tank was damaged, I didn't think three young boys could do that during the course of normal usage, but alas there it is. For now the water is off and the tank is drained.

So the real problem is downstairs, water accumulated in the floor all evening long and then damaged the ceiling below. Here are some photos of the damaged section of the ceiling.


The crack is just under a foot in length, but the damaged section is about 3-4 feet long.

I did a quick search and it looks like the toilet tank will cost around $60. I am most concerned about matching the toilet color. Shannon told me, it's
bisque. I'm color blind and I know how to work with plumning but the color is a bit beyond me. When I search for a 'toilet tank bisuqe' I get fancy looking 'Elizabethen' tanks which are twice as much. Maybe it will only be $60.

The real question is can I fix it before the Illinois Game.

The ceiling is a bigger concern. I've got the nearby ceiling fan on, hopefully helping dry it out. Perhaps it's not that wet despite the crack. It would be nice if it simply dried out in a day or two and then allowed for a quick patch. My wife has patched a popocorn ceiling. We'll have to wait and see.


======= UPDATE =========

I learned tanks and toilets do not match and are not universal. The recommendation is to replace the entire toilet. That's what I'll be doing this afternoon. The budget went from about $60 for a tank to $250 for a toilet. I've got the toilet, I just need to lug it up the stairs and get to work.

======== UPDATE =========-

The hose running pipe to the fill valve in the tank is about 2 inches too short. Otherwise, I am pretty much there. I'm going to have to run out and get a replacement. However at the moment, I am solo dad with my two younger boys, and my eldest may call for a ride any momement. My brother graciously offered to help, perhaps I'll give him a call.

======== UPDATE =========

It's finished. It works. My wife will call the insurance company about the ceiling, but my part is done, at least for now. Where did my Saturday go?

Good interactive quiz on email phishing scams

Below is a link to an online quiz regarding email security and phishing scams. 10 email messages are presented in the quiz, you must decide if the email is legitimate or a phishing scam. When the quiz is complete, information is provided why each message is or is not a phishing scam.

http://www.sonicwall.com/phishing/index.html

See if you can spot the fake messages.

Swine Flu Advice - latest info from Dept. of Health

Latest info from Dept. of Health...

If you wake up looking like this, don't go to work

IT Work in the Middle Ages

This is awesome. This really is what IT work is like sometimes.

Interesting blog post on health care

My friend Terry has a fascinating blog on economics. I've got a permenant link to the left of this blog. He recently posted again about health care. It was very interesting and worth a read:
http://terrynomics.blogspot.com/2009/08/ten-things-that-truly-have-not-been.html

The Fishman Cometh

Last Friday at during a Lunch & Learn (training) meeting I won a major award. No, not a leg lamp, nor a Red Rider BB Gun, I won a jar of Pickled Red Fish. Although I was not inclined to eat it, my 14 year old son was keen to give it a try. When he saw the fish first hand he decided
discretion was indeed the better part of valor and much to his mother's
relief he changed his mind. Thus there were no brave souls at the Noa
household willing to tackle the pickled major award.

Two co-workers had expressed interest in the fish, so I brought it
back to work with me yesterday morning. They did indeed sample the fish
and reported first hand that it was indeed edible, despite a rather
pungent odor. Both felt that one bite of the delicacy was more than
enough to satisfy their culinary curiosity, so I was still left with one
jar of Picked Red Fish.

If sent an email to the rest of the office offering them a taste or if they were inclined the entire jar. I did warn them to hurry as the hazardous
materials team will be arriving later this week to carefully dispose of
whatever remains.

Spiderman's Been Webbed!

My wife noticed a Spiderman Action Figure had been left on our back deck overnight. It looks like something decided to web Spidey!

Looks pretty cool!

I couldn't resist posting a few quick photos.

Fun at the fair

My mother took Shannon, the boys and I to the Illinois State Fair today. We had a great time.

Here is my middle son (7 years old) on the power jump ride at the Illinois State Fair.

Here's Shannon and the younger boys on the Ferris Wheel.

Eldest Son's Award Winning Artwork

I posted earlier that my eldest son won 3rd place for a painting at the Illinois State Fair.

Here is a photo of my son with this painting.

Here is the painting alone.


Here is the art that beat his.


...and the other painting that placed ahead of his.


He entered a sketch in another category that did not place.

The other painter in the family

I've posted about my son winning awards at the state fair and the county fair. Well my wife is a painter of another sort. Ok, not really but I have fabulous photos of her applying water proof stain to our fence in the back yard.

3rd Place in State Fair

My eldest son won 3rd place in the Illinois State Fair for his painting of a lioness. (the above picture of the lioness is old and is not complete, I'll post updated photos when I can.)

Here's a link to the Illinois State Fair web site.

Lost from Comic Con

I listen to the Lost Transmission, a podcast on. They are or rather were, just at Comic Con in San Deigo and watched the Lost a panel. They have audio from the panel in a special podcast which I recommend checking out. If video is more your speed, I found this blog post featuring video and audio from the panel.

I'm not quite done with the podcast, but so far just a lot of fun and not too many spoilers. They do seem to be indicating one of my pet theories about season 6 may be true.

It's good to get a Lost Fix.

1979 Klingon Happy Meal

Award Winning Art at the County Fair

My eldest son, who's just a week shy of 14 years old, entered four pieces of artwork in the Champaign County Fair. He earned three 1st place awards and one 2nd place award.

His oil painting of a lioness won 1st place in it's category.(the above picture of the lioness is old and is not complete, I'll post updated photos when I can.)

(this is the completed work at the fair)

His pastel drawing of a classmate won 1st place in it's category.



His charcoal drawing of a girl in an apple orchard won 1st place in it's category.



His oil painting of the eight cylons from Battlestar Galactica won 2nd place in the open category.


I will modify this post when I have photographs of the artwork.