Hello there my faithful readers! It’s been forever and a day, and I wanted to just drop a line to say we’re still alive and kicking… The running theme these days seems to be sickness. Rhys has a cough right now, but he just got over (or is getting over) a real nasty stomach bug. It turned him into a human lawn sprinkler if you catch my drift. Poor kid just can’t seem to catch a break! On top of that, Heidi was diagnosed with Bronchitis! YAY! So much for riding this out until we get back on insurance. Chalk that up to another one of my brilliant foresights… I have remained sickness free, which is important when you have a new job.

I’m still working on websites on the side, and have been working with a local politician. A friend of mine and I are thinking of marketing to the local political scene to see if we can drum up some beer money. The market is ripe, and we have the skills. Might as well try capitalizing on it. At the worst it’s a learning experience — such is life.

Not too long ago, Rhys when #2 on the big boy potty for the very first time! So, he got himself a brand new red bicycle! He’s so excited about it. Even in his weakened condition, he insists on riding his bike outside a little bit each day. He gets about two good pedals in and then has to rest to catch his breath and drink some Gatorade! LOL  He’s a trooper! Of course, we don’t let him take it too far! What’s more, with me concentrating on studies, mom seems to be the one taking him out most of the time. I swear I will do more here soon, but studies take priority right now.

Speaking of studies, I’m studying up on .NET programming. Both the Win32 side and the Web App side. It’s so good to be back in Visual Studio, even for my Open Source projects. I have to hand it to Microsoft with Visual Studio, it’s just some bad ass shit. I gave my old copy of Studio to the neighbor kid who has shown an interest in programming — my good deed for the month. Hopefully he doesn’t squander the opportunity to take the free time in his life right now, and get a leg up on the working world.

That’s about it. Nothing too interesting, and I’m sure I am forgetting quite a bit of shit, but I’ll write more in here, I promise. Even if it is fluff, like this. :)

Well, the latest news is I’ve landed softly again with another company here in town. I’m really excited about this new position! When I got laid off from AOL and joined the small company of MindPlay I was so ecstatic about getting back at a small company. Well, I’ve learned that small companies have their “challenges” as well. I’m happy to have found another corporate job. It will have its “challenges” as well. But, something I’ve learned, corporate “challenges” are organized. ;)

In other news we’ve began the grand transformation of our shitty backyard. Just minor upgrades at the moment, but we actually have a vision for where we want this to go. It’s nice to see the start of a nice place to hang out in our backyard. For FIVE years we have left it a pretty blank slate, and had I realized it was so easy and cheap to make it nice out there, I would have done it long ago. Credit to my lovely wife as she saw this from day one. Double credit for her not getting too mad at me for not doing that sooner. Thanks honey!

I went to Ike’s Coffee Shop for the first time today. It was nice! The barista knew her shit, and the coffee was prepared properly. I was there to meet someone about a possible contract work, and I think it went very well. We’ll see how things pan out going forward. What really caught my eye at Ike’s was the gauntlet of laptop power cords criss-crossing the floor! I sat there while I waited for the meeting to start, and just reflected on what it would be like if THAT were your office. How cool would that be? Well, one day it will happen. I won’t take no for an answer. Just have a hill to climb yet.

So, where am I at these days? We’ll let’s see where to begin.

Monday I lost my job. It can honestly be argued that I quit or that I fired. I prefer the terminology “laid off”. How does that make me feel? Well, I liken it to getting released from a long prison term. So glad to be out, but now facing reality of getting something else going. We’ll see where this latest turn of career directions takes me.

To compound the fun, Rhys’ ear infections are back. He has to go into surgery to get tubes put in. YAY! I can’t tell you how excited we both are about this prospect. Especially the general anaesthesia part. Honestly, hasn’t this kid been through enough? That’s slated for the 27th. We’ll see if the insurance cards still work around then, but I’m not holding my breath. My ex-boss is just that way.

What else? Heidi is now sick too. It looks like an ear infection for her too! How does that happen!! It’s not like her son has two infections, and she works at a preschool. !? Of course, the recent change of events has increased the stress on my wonderful wife, but she is handling it quite well. I’m so thankful to have such a supportive wife. Truly.

I’ve sold my motorcycle… It’s gone. Done like dinner. The extra cash should help us float a bit longer if we have to. Let’s hope we don’t. I’ve applied to about 100 jobs (well, almost 100) and am not waiting for bites. Whilst waiting I’m gonna head up to Show Low to talk biz with my old biz partner, Greg. He’s talkin about starting up a web dev company. HEY! Guess what! I happen to love web development work! ;) Heading up there this Thursday.

I’ll keep all you cats posted, and if you have any ideas for me about what to do when I grow up, please don’t hesitate to email me! ;)

Long week that seems to have flown by. That never seems to be a good thing for me. Means that towards the end of the week, I’m left spinning, and I don’t really know what happened. Thankfully this type of week is not a “common” thing for me. But, it’s the kind of week I had this week.

Work has been extraordinarily bad this week. Obviously, since I am writing about it. Of course I wont go into detail for a list of reasons (you can quit rolling your eyes, Jason).

So, what to do? Well, a nice camping trip with the boys sounds like a perfect remedy for reality blues. So, that’s what we’re doing this weekend. Turns out Sam is going to settle down with his girl, and his bachelor party will be a camping trip. I can get behind that. So, tomorrow night, I have to get my scotch packed up, get the gun packed up, dig out my paintball markers, find our tent and other campish stuff, and then it’s off to … uhm… somewhere… Guess I should find out where we are going…

Hope everyone has a splended weekend. :)

Pretty uneventful weekend in our neck of the woods. The most exciting thing about this weekend was my allergic reaction to my cat… He was being so nice, and acting like he missed me or something. So, I pet him. Just a little. Not even a minute long. Next thing I know my eye starts feeling funny. Before I know it my eye is swelled up so big I can’t open it. I looked like Rocky Balboa after a fight with Mr T. Just for the record, Clartin doesn’t help… I know, why I thought it would I have no idea. Dimetap no worky either. Benadryl finally did the trick. OMG.

Other than that, the other news is Heidi and Rhys are back to school tomorrow. Of course I am back to work tomorrow as well. Hopefully I can make it through the week quickly and quietly. Well, here we go! Let’s see what Monday has to throw at us!