Going Batty at Work

While I was leaving the office after work yesterday I notice a small brown blob on the wall, about 5 or 6 feet over my head. I couldn't quite make it out but my friend and co-worker Bruce recognized it as a bat! He's been there all night, we're speculating he died in the cold. Here are some photos.

Click on each image for a larger view.

Those were the droids you were looking for.

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