Recently in Me Category

On August 21, 2005 I wrote about getting Zeus from my my friend Heather as she was going to give him away.  Zeus and I had a little bit of a rocky start as I noted in that post but he has been a great cat ever since.  He was always a lap cat to the extreme, always wanting to sit in your lap even if there was a laptop or something else already there.  When he couldn't sit on your lap because you were in bed he would lay on your head or next to you on the pillow.  I admit that at times I pushed him off, but he was always there to give you affection.  A few months ago we found out that he had feline AIDS or FIV.  Because of this we had to take away on of his favorite things which was going outside.  He had become even more creative in sneaking out whenever the door was opened since then.  He put up the arrival of Kelly's cats almost a year ago and then Narnia last fall.  He often would remind Narnia whose house it was by giving Narnia a whack as he walked by.  Tonight at about 8:30 PM he died of what was apparently a blood clot / stroke.  He was sleeping on the couch and then coughed strangely almost as if he was choking.  Kelly and I were sitting on the couch and I looked at him and his eyes just seemed dead.  I tried to nudge him and got no reaction.  Kelly then jumped up and grabbed him and we raced to the Pet ER.  We got there in minutes but they could do nothing for him.  They said he did not react at all to CPR or drugs.  After about 20 minutes from the point he coughed we told them to stop trying to recover him.  The picture below was taken only a few hours before he died.  He died sleeping almost exactly as pictured.  He will be missed.

Just in case anyone wants to buy me something for Christmas here are some suggestions.

Books

DVD

HD-DVD

Video Games

This post is oh about 2-3 months late. The summer is a busy time for me so, um, sorry.  All the pictures I took are in this set.  I have some smaller sets that I will link to below.  There will likely be a revision of this later with Kelly filling in my memory blanks.

The Disney part of our trip started on Friday June 8th, 2007.  Kelly went over to our hotel which was the Animal Kingdom Lodge around noon.  Her trip was greatly complicated by the incompetent people in the hotel.  They had resort "specialists" that couldn't be bothered to help her.  She ended up taking a shuttle that got her to the transportation hub and then made it to the hotel.  She found out later that there was much easier methods of getting there.  Once she got to the hotel the experience was much better, it is a really nice place to stay.

My TechEd day ended just before 5 PM and I took the last shuttle back to one of the Disney resorts.  On the way over Kelly and I decided to just meet at the Magic Kingdom.  We had some confusion about transportation again but we managed to meet up near the entrance gate.  I went through Port Orleans on the way there since that was where the TechEd shuttle went.  Kelly had gotten my pass when she checked into the hotel.  After having my bag searched we headed over to the lockers.  While I was getting a key for the locker (which was $5) I got a Magical Moment and they gave me the key for free which was cool.  I left my camera in the bag so there are no pictures of the first night.

Kelly had gotten some books about Disney that serve as route guides and she read or at least looked through them before we went to the parks.  She had one in particular that was really good that gave you suggested routes and we used it throughout the trip to best utilize our time.  One of the good things about Kelly not liking to ride the coasters is she could use her card for fast passes for me.  This allowed us to get easy entry to twice as many rides.

Friday night we walked around and rode a bunch of rides.  I honestly can't remember which exact ones.  There were a few that were memorable for very different reasons.  No matter what someone tells you do not go on Stitch's Great Escape, even though we just walked on it is 5-10 minutes of my life I will never get back.  The other was more special for me than anyone else.  Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor was really cool, it is mostly an animated crowd interaction.  At several points during the show they would show the crowd on the screen and ask questions or put captions up.  Before it started they showed Kelly on the screen and said "sitting next to stinky" I think.  Then several times throughout the show they would say something like "everyone is great except this guy" and show me on the screen.  They did it about a half dozen times throughout the show.  The last one I remember is Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.  It is a moving light gun video game.  The first time Kelly got a better score and the second time I won.  We got a really good picture of us intensely  trying to shoot the bad guys.

Friday night was magic hours for people staying at resort hotels, which means it was open until 1 AM instead of 11 PM.  We got armbands for it but didn't really take advantage of the ability to stay that late since we wanted to get up early.

On Saturday morning the Animal Kingdom had magic hours which meant it opened for us at 8 AM instead of 9 AM.  According to the book it said to get there 30-45 min before opening.  As a result we got up about 6 AM and I got coffee as best I could for Kelly.  The cafe at the hotel had a cappuccino / espresso machine but didn't really have anyone who knew how to work it.  We got the park about 7:30 AM.  They started letting people in a few minutes before 8 AM.  They had a moving rope carried by Disney people to ensure there wasn't a stampede to get to the rides.  We first headed over to the Expedition Everest roller coaster.  Since it was early I could just walk on and we could get fast passes for later.  We then headed over to some of the kiddy like rides, even those Kelly wouldn't ride.  After the kids section we went to DINOSAUR.  This was probably the scariest ride Kelly rode and she wasn't too happy about it.

Next we went into the Tree of Life for It's Tough to be a Bug, which was a lot of fun.  We then spent a bunch of time walking some of the animal trails and seeing the wide array of animals.  We also rode the Kilimanjaro Safaris which is where a large amount of the pictures I took came from.  Lastly we went to Conservation Station.  There was a train ride to another section to get there.  There was a petting area and some other interactive activities.  We ran out of steam around 4 PM due to it being quite hot and humid.  We managed to see and do everything we wanted to do in that time, but we were really moving.  For all the pictures check out this set.

We headed back to the hotel.  We took showers and a nap.  Later in the evening we headed back over to the Magic Kingdom.  We tried to go to the rides we had missed the night before and walked around and saw stuff we had missed.  We remembered the camera and actually took some pictures this time.  The ones from this part of the trip are in this set.  We got trapped by the nightly parade as you can see in some of the pictures.

Sunday was Epcot day pretty much.  The pictures of the day are in this set.  I think there were Magic Hours at Epcot that morning meaning it opened at 8 AM instead of 9 AM for us.  Again we got up early and headed over to get there at opening.  We used a pre-determined path for the most part to try and optimize our visit.  I rode Test Track and Mission Space pretty quickly, both I would highly recommend.  We then headed over to The Land Pavilion.  In there I got Kelly to ride Soarin', which she wasn't to sure about but ended up enjoying.

We ended the morning in The Seas with Nemo & Friends Pavilion, which had some more animals to see.  I took a few pictures but most didn't really turn out.

My feet had been deteriorating over the first days and it was about this time I really started limping.  I had worn the wrong shoes at TechEd and messed my feet up and even after switching to better shoes I was getting worse and worse.  I was in pretty bad pain and became grumpy due to it.  Kelly finally convinced me to go back to hotel and try and deal with my feet a little after noon.   At hotel I got some flip flops to make sure my feet were no longer squished by shoes. Kelly bought some band-aids and other things to repair and protect feet.  You can see my feet later in the day after Kelly attempted to patch them here and here.

While we were at the hotel we took some pictures out our window of the animals that were roaming about.  We also took some pictures of the massive entry area for the hotel.  It was really pretty.  It was about the size of a football field and 3 stories high.  The pictures we took can be seen in this set.

After fixing up my feet and resting a bit we decided to head back to Epcot about 4 PM.  As were riding the bus to Epcot it started to rain (and lightning).  The bus driver thought it would just blow over in a few minutes so we got off the bus under a loading area with a roof but no walls to wait it out.  Within minutes the wind picked up and then hail started coming down.  Soon it was going almost sideways and hitting us even though were under 10-15 feet of roof.  The hail was as big as grapes at points and it was really starting to hurt.  We got on the next bus that came not caring where it was going.  We ended up in Port Orleans (second time for me).  Kelly and I were freezing so we went to the gift shop and bought a beach towel as a blanket of sorts.  There is a picture of us here as drowned rats.

After the rain finally ended (so much for blowing over in minutes) we got back to Epcot a little before 7 PM.  Our goal was to make it around the international lake shore and visit all the pavilions.  We stopped and saw a few shows, there aren't really any rides in this section.  As you can see from the pictures in this set we also took pictures along the way.  We pretty much made it and even managed to exit the park before everyone else after the nightly fireworks.  We got back on the bus and were back at the hotel by 10 PM.  We promptly passed out at that point after two and a half days of Disney running.

The next morning we got up and flew home.  We were able to see almost all of 3 of Disney's parks in the time we had, which is pretty good I think.  It could have been a bit better if my feet weren't destroyed and we didn't have the hail hurricane, but it was overall a lot of fun.  Next summer we will be going to Disney Land thanks to Kelly going to ALA there.  In case you missed it above all the pictures are in this set.

For the first time in almost 11 years I am staying in a dorm again.  Before you ask, no I am not going back to school at least not for very long.  I am at La Salle University in their St. Basil dorm for the week.  The room feels a bit smaller than the room I had at U of I but very similar.  There are two long twin beds, two dressers, two desk and a closet like area (no door).  I am not sharing the room but I do get to use the shared bathroom down the hall.

The one big difference I noticed was they use key cards for access to the building and the rooms instead of keys.  They also have individual Ethernet ports for each person and a phone jack for each person.  Since these dorms are newer they also have AC built in.  The room has a small fridge, but I am not sure if that is just for summer or if all rooms have them all the time.

I also get to eat in the dining hall, which seems to be a small food court like thing.  Nothing to special and pretty small.

While I was down in Orlando for TechEd Kelly came down to join me for a small vacation.  She arrived late Wednesday night on June 6th.  While I went to the conference during the day on Thursday Kelly went to Seaworld Orlando to pass the day.  She was there from 11 AM to 5 PM or so.  She got to see most the shows and didn't really care to ride the rides much.

On Thursday night was the TechEd attendee party at Universal Studios Orlando: Islands of Adventure.  We left the hotel on a bus about 6:30 PM and arrived at the park a few minutes before 7 PM.  We entered the park through the "back door" in the Jurassic Park area.  I first went to Dueling Dragons which was a lot of fun.  I literally couldn't walk because I was so dizzy when I got off the ride.  After this point I will get what we did right, but the order is probably wrong.  We went to a stunt show about Sindbad.  It was fun and often happened in the middle of the audience.  Afterward we went to eat, while we were eating the thunderstorms rolled in.  This caused all of the roller coasters to close due to lightning.

After the rain slowed we headed over to Seuss Landing.  Once there we rode the Caro-Suess-El a couple of times.  We later rode One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  We headed over to Toon Lagoon as well.  While there we walked around Me Ship, The Olive and then rode Popeye & Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges.  One thing about this white water raft ride is there are several points where people can spray you with water cannons to make sure you get wet.

The last thing I rode was The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man which was a 3-D moving cart ride.  It was lots of fun and even fairly long.  While I was inside Spider-Man came out for pictures and apparently took up position right in front of Kelly.  She is now immortalized in probably hundreds of pictures as the background.  We then headed out around 10:30 PM hoping to beat the really big rush at the exit.  It was a good night, it would have been better with no rain and all the rides running.  I am sure I am forgetting something that Kelly will fill in later in the comments.

After many delays, forgotten dates and very nearly a summons I did my civic duty and showed up for Jury duty today.  I showed up a few moments before 9 AM at the Baltimore County Circuit Court to check in.  There was a quite a long line, but it was moving fast.  They gave me my $15 and validated my parking.  I took a seat in the large and comfortable seating area.  After everyone checked in they told us how the day would go, mostly waiting.  Then they showed us a video that was a good 20-25 years old judging by clothing.  The video explained the jury selection process and what happens after you get selected.  They also said you used to have to serve for 30 days instead of 1, that is amazing I guess you just essentially left work for a month.

After the video they put on some movie that I can't remember.  I moved to one of the "quiet" areas.  I sat there for about an hour.  Then two ladies began discussing how they will do anything necessary to get out of sitting for a trial, things like panic attacks and such.  They kept saying that they shouldn't be hear since they didn't go to school like judges and lawyers and how could anyone be expected to pay attention in court.  Their ignorance was simply stunning.  The last thing I heard before I got up to leave was "What is a docket?" after they announced one docket was cleared and they were waiting on the other.  I just couldn't stand them and was afraid they would notice the faces I was making at them and so I moved to the other quiet area.

I read the entire book Feed cover to cover during the day.  About 12:30 they released us for lunch until 1:30 PM.  About 2:30 PM I finished the book and moved back into the main room.  They were now showing Father of the Bride 2.  I began to play my DS which I thankfully brought with me.  At about 3:00 PM they called number 2-92 to be selected, I was 120.  At about 3:30 PM a judge came down and made a quick speech thanking us for sitting around for the day and telling us how important it is to be able to sit a jury promptly to prevent delays in the justice system.  He then released us for the day.

I know most people think jury duty is just a pain in the ass, and to some degree I agree.  However it is a very necessary part of the justice process.  Most people seemed to be ok with doing their duty, others though I just wanted to shake and say you are an idiot.

Kelly dropped me off at BWI at about 8 AM this morning.  I had checked in online and printed a boarding pass (with my new printer, notes on that another time) but I still had to check in my bag.  That line seemed to take longer than it should since all people should be doing is showing boarding pass and getting bag tag printed.  Once I had my bag checked I headed to security.

At this point it was 8:30 AM or so.  The line was being held up by a group of people lead by a teacher from my school.  She was oblivious to her disturbance, which knowing her is not surprising.  When I got to the person who checks boarding pass and ID she remarked that I was quite early.  The response I wanted to give was that it is often necessary to be that early due to TSA lines, however I just took my pass and moved on.

I boarded Airtran flight 445 on time.  However we were not able to leave on time.  Apparently the baggage conveyor belt broke.  This meant that bags had to be manually moved and loaded.  We ended up leaving about 20 minutes late.

As I mentioned I have been sick all week leading up to this.  One benefit to flying is the pressure drops as you take off and ascend.  This allowed my sinuses to open up and empty to some degree.  I was able to blow my nose and clear some out.  It actually felt good to be able to hear for a while.

Now as many of you probably have guessed by now the reverse happens when the plane descends.  The pressure began building up again.  I am used to this in normal situations and I can usually pop me ears easily, this time not so much.  One sinus was relatively clear and ok, the other was not.  My left ear / right sinus (I don't know how it works in the body, just where the pressure was) kept increasing in pressure and rapidly was getting painful.  It felt like my forehead near my right eyebrow was going to explode, this was by far the most painful flying had ever been.  Luckily I got it to pop a little and released some of the pressure.

When I got to the airport and got my bag I had to decide how to get to hotel.  Microsoft always provides great transportation at TechEd and back to the airport but nothing from airport.  The cabs started at $40 so I decided to take a Mears shuttle for $17.  The wait was supposed to be 15-45 minutes, it was closer to 45.

After I checked into the Rosen Plaza Hotel I headed over to the convention center.  You can find the rest of the story and lots of posts from me over at my TechEd Blog.

As I mentioned previously I think all the shopping and being around people got me sick.  I started to have a scratchy throat on Monday night.  Then I went downhill rapidly at work on Tuesday.  By Tuesday night I was not feeling well.  I stayed home Wednesday and Thursday and did nothing but lay in bed and sleep. I was not awake more than 8 hours either day.  I am pretty sure I had some kind of flu.  I had a mild fever at times but was mostly very weak and was stuffed up.

Friday I went into work mostly because I was going to be out for the next week and needed to get some stuff done.  I was not well yet, but I was better.  I stayed in my office and didn't move around much.  I was able to get most of what I wanted done, even if it did take me until 6:30 PM.

I mostly rested on Saturday to prepare for my trip on Sunday.  Now Sunday night I am about 85%, I am still a little weak and my sinus are still stuffed up.  More on that in the flight notes.

Today is the 10th anniversary of my first day at a real 5 day a week job. I started with Wordlink on 11/1/1996. Thankfully Tom took a chance on a kid out of school who had some computer experience. I immediately began working at John Deere and moved to East Moline, IL.

The last ten years have been a pretty wild ride. There have been some highs (being hired by Microsoft) and some lows (being fired by Microsoft) along the way. I would say for the most part it has been an upward swing. There were some really interesting experiences like working with the Department of Energy on Y2K. On the other extreme were some long days spent working on maddening problems.

Pretty much each job I have had I have stayed at longer than the last. Right now I am working on 3.5 years at my current job. I can't say at this point where I will be 10 years from now. One thing I do know for sure is that technology will change faster in the next 10 years then it did in the last 10. As a result what I do will change. It will be an adventure and I look forward to it.

I may have also found something to possibly displace work as my number one priority. That has been a rarity for the majority of the last ten years. Thanks to all those who have helped me along the way, maybe I can return the favor one day.

Well the real professional photographer pictures got put up a little while ago.  They won't be up for long but if you want to see them you can click on this link.  The picture on the side was the only one of Kelly and I.  If you click on it a larger version will come up.  The whole wedding photography game is something I am just beginning to understand.  The prices to actually get prints are interesting to say the least.