Disheveled Rambling's

I was reading an article on CNN's
website this morning that was written by a new parent who attempted to
telecommute from home and take care of his newborn daughter at the same
time.  The article, while causing a bunch of snickers from me (having
been there, done that), makes one realize the true difficulties
associated with trying to achieve this feat.

Between my present job and my last two jobs, I have gotten the chance to telecommute at the different stages of our kids lives and I must say that its not as easy as some would think.  In recent times though, it has gotten a fair bit easier as my wife tends to try and keep the kids at bay while I am working, but I still have to keep reminding our two kids (5 and almost 4) that daddy is working and that they need to let me.  Sure, there is the occasional request that needs filling (drinks, hugs, etc), but its has definitely gotten a bit easier.

While I can shut out the noise of the kids (typically with the help my iPod and Bose QC2 headset), I would highly suggest that anyone considering the work at home option setup a home office.  This goes especially for those that are easily distracted.  As any developer will tell you, once they get into their mindset and groove, they don't like to be disturbed (that goes for me as well).  So, the home office where you can shut the door and be alone is a huge benefit.

Why is it that every weekend we seem to have some amount of snow accumulation?  I literally have 7 foot snowbanks in front of my house.  I no longer have a mailbox, I have a hole in the snow where our mailman puts our mail.  Its just sick.  Plus, I don't know how much more my back can take.  

Sure, "buy a snowblower" is what most say.  See, first you need to have the $$$ to buy one and then you need a shed to put it in (seeing as how we have no garage).  Unfortunately, we just aren't there yet, but soon.  :) 

Some of our neighbors are threatening a move to some place like Florida in order to get away from all of the snow.  Last week we endured sub-zero temperatures that reached -10 where we are, but were down do -40ish in other places.   Its unbelievable really, but still its happening.

Oh well, enough venting.  :-)
 

I did not realize it had been so long since the last update.  We are in Christmas week and right now recovering from a couple really walloping storms.  The weekend before last we got hit with an ice storm that knocked power out to about 430,000 homes in New Hampshire.  It was quite a week.  In fact, we lost our power at 11:45 on December 11th, the night of the storm.  We ended up being without power for about 92 hours.  We didn't actually get our power back till about 8pm on Monday, December 15th.  The house got down to a bone chilling 38 degrees at one point, but thankfully we had a couple of different friends that allowed us to stay with them. 

Its nice that when things go awry that friends are there to step up and help each other.  This past weekend we got blasted with almost 2 feet of snow.  There was a storm on Friday that began in the early afternoon and it even though the second storm was Sunday, ending that evening, it never really stopped snowing all weekend.  In all I was out shoveling 5 or 6 times this weekend.  Its rather sick really.  My back is letting me know how displeased it is and my arms and hands are about seized from it all.  Typing is a lot of fun at the moment, but I am keeping up a good pace.

Hopefully Mother Nature will take it easy on us for a while.  We don't need much more at the moment.  Lets get through all of the holidays first.  :-)

I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We hope that each and every one of you has the best holiday possible!

Wow, it feels like Halloween was only a couple of months ago.  Is it a year already?   Well, its true, and today is the day.  Our kids have been psyched for this day for weeks.  Our daughter is going out as a witch and our son as Spiderman.  I cannot wait to see them in their costumes, they are going to be ADORABLE.  You may think its biased, but its true, don't you worry. 

After we take them out for a little while Trick-or-Treating, we shall come back home for the giving out of some candy.  Oh, what fun.

Our daughter was asking last night if we could have made last night Halloween as she could not wait to go get a bucket full of candy.  YEAH!!! She probably thinks we are going to let her devour whatever she gets.  He he he, if that's the case, she has another thing coming.  Sparingly, that's how the candy will be dished out, sparingly.  :)  No need to ruin the teety, right? 

What a kill joy, huh?  Well, if you are parents, you probably feel the same way I am sure, especially after seeing the dentist with the kids.

Have fun and stay safe everyone!!!  Booooo haaaw haaaaww haaaaaaw!!!!

As we have all heard time and time again, John McCain and Sarah Palin have a made a celebrity out of the man they call "Joe the Plumber".  The whole deal was that the man was scared because under Barrak Obama's economic plan, any small business making under $250,000 would get a tax break. 

The man bought (or wanted to buy) a business for $280,000.  That right there is obviously over the $250,000 that was mentioned.  But now, he has become such a celebrity that I read online today that Joe has now hired his own publicity team from Nashville, TN.  So, what does that cost Joe?  It can't be pennies to have your own publicity team.  How much were you paid by the GOP for your vote?  I just think its absolutely rediculous that this man is bitching about having to pay his taxes, yet he can afford to hire a publicity team. 

Someone needs to get off his high (overpriced) horse and remember that there are two certainties in life:  death and taxes.  Taxes Joe!!  Why not do what the rest of America does and pay them and go about your business.  Oh, sorry, your too busy running your own "feel sorry for me" campaign, I forgot.

I was thinking the other day and trying to remember the last time that I blogged on here and, well, I could not remember. So, it is more than time for an update.

Things have been a little crazy and out of hand as of late. The weather, as all of us New Englander's know, has STUNK!!! It has rained for most of the summer and isn't letting up either. I truly feel like I live in a rain forest. If its this wet here it must be a frickin' drought in the amazon, let me just say!!

To top it all of, with all the wet weather, we have not had much of a chance to take the kids outside to play. Being cramped up inside the house day in and day out does not make for happy kids OR happy parents for that fact. Our daughter is absolutely dying to go outside and play, but every time we get the chance to take them out, the thunder cracks and the lightening flashes. If someone even remotely says drought, I will drown them in the puddle they are standing in. Heck, I now have webbed hands and feet for swimming ease.

Ok, enough of a rant on the weather as I could rain down the comments (sorry, had to). Our daughter is getting ready for her first day of Kindergarten. They have an orientation day the last week of August and then start up daily on 9/1. Oh happy day!!! My hope is that Kindergarten will calm our daughter to a much more manageable tempo. While we love her dearly and she is much more behaved than a lot of other kids you see while out and about, she is just ACTIVE!!! The questions start when her feet hit the floor in the morning and do not end until she is fully asleep. You have to force her to stop asking them during the day just to give you 2 seconds to have a thought of your own. My entire lot of pity goes to my wife who spends all day with her and is typically fried and completely done by the time I am on the way home. When I do get home, she goes to relax and is so spent from our daughter during the day that we really cannot spend much time together until the kids are bed bound. Even then its usually quiet time spend relaxing because of our over-active daughter and our son who is only like that when around her. Get him away from her and he is a completely different person.

I love the nights where I put the daughter to bed and keep him up an extra 1/2 hour to let her get to sleep (that way they don't try to get up and play together). He finds something to do, sits down next to you and you barely know he is there. That is such an inviting time of day, I must say. :-)

Well, that is what has been going on. There is probably more, but I will save some for the next post.

2 1/2 years ago when Verizon notified us that their FiOS internet service was available in our area, I was very quick to call and schedule the installation. Since we moved into the house almost 6 1/2 years ago, we have had Verizon as our telephone provider as well.

Well, about 4 months ago we changed to Vonage for our phone, moving to a VoIP system instead of a landline. The switch-over cancelled the phone service with Verizon (which migrated over to FairPoint Communications about the same time when Verizon sold a couple of states to them). Since then, we have been receiving bills for internet service and paying them, no problems. Until last Friday that is!

We received an email stating that because we had no valid phone number with Verizon/FairPoint, that the Verizon system could not bill our FiOS to our bill. We found this kind of funny since I had a current bill in front of me.

After an unbearably long time on hold we were able to get through to an actual person (Verizon's automated system absolutly SUCKS and runs you around in circles!). After describing the situation to the gentleman he explained that the entire reason for this is Verizon's billing system.... its completely flawed. The issue is, if you do not have phone service through them, Verizon requires a credit card to have their service. No offense, but I don't care to have a $45 charge going to my credit card every month. We are working at getting our card(s) paid off, not build them up. Must say Verizon, way to keep the American public in debt!!! Frickin' losers!!!!

You must be wondering why its not FairPoint that the issue is with, since they bought the services from Verizon. Because FairPoint was not ready to completely take over the FiOS portion, Verizon retained control, even though it shows up on FairPoints paper bill. To me, it makes no sense. If FairPoint is billing, why don't they just bill us and say that's that? They are both screwy. To top it all off, the guy told us that we got that email, we typically have less than a week before they shut off our service. This really stinks as Vonage is VoIP and you need a high speed connection to use it.

So after our hand was forced we did some checking into different service (high speed of course). I don't want to have service with Comcast again, but seeing as how other places are charging extravegant amounts for high speeds, it seems to be our only viably cheap option. So, I called Comcast and had a talk with the lady that answered, explaining the entire situation. She was able to give us a pretty good deal. Basically, Internet w/ modem, All the regular channels (basic, standard and preferred, totalling a fair number of channels), a DVR, HBO and all installation fees waived for a good savings for the first year.

So, after some debating over the whole situation, we called her back and made the switch. The guy is supposed to come out on Friday to hook it all up.

Verizon wireless is the only other Verizon stuff we have and that will change soon as well. I plan on getting an iPhone, my wife will get whatever phone she chooses and we will then be with AT&T. I know, some don't like them, but I get a discount on the plans and phones through work so its worth while.

Congratulations Verizon, you have lost yet another set of customers. If this is the way you treat your loyal customers, then I hope your customer base continues to dramatically shrink.

Well, I was "stumbling" around during lunch and I found a link that shows you how you can make Chocolate Cake in a cup, in the microwave. I have actually thought about trying it after I get off work, just to see if it works well and is at all tasty. Enjoy!

Allow me to explain the subject of this post. We are going away this friday to bury my Grandmother, who passed away a couple of months ago. About 2-3 weeks ago we made our hotel reservations for the trip. Well, this morning I called to confirm and they had NOTHING on our reservation. Needless to say, I was not happy and getting less pleased as time passed.

I called the wife to let her know and we started going through our email accounts to find the confirmation and everything. Nothing! After all that, I look on the desktop of my laptop to find a reservation confirmation printout (printed to pdf file). Low and behold, there it is. What's worse, its for a different hotel chain than I thought. ***sigh*** Thus, the brain dead week starts.

The wife and I had a date night last night and after a wonderful dinner together, we decided to take in a movie. We ended up going to see Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. I give it a 10!!, without question. From a geek's perspective, the computer technology displayed in the movie had me drooling from frame to frame. I could not help but sit there and wonder how far off we are from the technology they showed. Then, when they showed Tony Stark surrounded by monitors at his desk, I..... well, you can imagine I was drenching my lap with more drool.

All in all though, I have seen all of the movies so far that Marvel has turned into movies and I must say that this one is by far the best of them all up to this point. Again, from my geeky perspective this movie is going to be really hard to top. I highly recommend seeing it.

Since we have had kids we have kind of felt a little trapped (ok, a lot trapped). We spend a lot of time indoors with them, mainly because our yard STINKS!!! We have quite the uneven property and to do work to it would mean letting the kids run around. That's not a problem, don't get me wrong, but its the age that matters to us. When they are younger we had to keep a constant eye on them, picking them up when they fell down every 30 seconds, making sure they didn't touch anything they weren't supposed to (poison ivy, things that can hurt them, etc), and anything else they could get to.

Now that our daughter is 4 1/2 and our son is 3, we have been feeling a little more able to get out and do things in the yard. This year we will hopefully get things done that have been needing to. Things like:

• building the shed we bought almost 2 years ago.
• cleaning up the yard.
• build flower beds where we would like
• maybe build a deck for sitting on.

Future projects include leveling off the property in areas so that it isn't so awfully uneven. Some day that will happen. :-)

Anyone know an easy way to get 5 stumps from some bushes that were cut down, out of the ground? They are still in there pretty well after 2 years. They are in front of our house in a built up wall section. Difficult to work in, but I NEED to get them out of there. I am open to ideas.

Oh, look, its been a month. See, this is what happens when you are so busy getting up to speed at your new job and loving it at the same time.

Well, I started a new blog recently. Being a diabetic, I found myself needing some sort of "kick in the butt" to keep me on track.  Its not that I was trying to destroy myself, but I wasn't actively trying to get out there and lose weight either.  Plus, I wasn't testing as often as I should.  What I had and have been doing is monitoring what I eat. 

Well, with the advent of my "Motivated Diabetic" blog, I am not only watching even more closely my diet, I have been exercising (walks, sit-ups and such, etc) and testing more often as well (which is something I should have been doing anyway. 

I just wanted to share for those of you who follow my blog(s).

Well, to begin with, an update on my Grandmother. We had the wake on 3/5 at Brady's Funeral home. (I know many of you won't know where that is, but I am only mentioning it for those who do) Having seen Grandma on Saturday, 3/1/2008, I must say that she was looking much better and that they had done a great job at the funeral home, making her look peaceful and at rest.

We were all doing ok at the wake until the end. My wife and I were paying our final respects to her when my daughter walks up, grabs a rose off the table display and asks if she can put it in the coffin with her Great Grandma. Mom OK'd it and she climbed up and put it in with her. My wife absolutely lost it and began crying.

I was thinking during the week, trying to pick one thing that I could remember that Grandma liked. The answer..... "Certs!". Let me say that those mints are very hard to find when you need them. I did find a roll and at the wake, I placed them under her hand. (Love you Grandma!)

So, the next day we had the funeral at the United Methodist Church. Before we had even arrived for the services, my mother had asked me if I wanted to be a Pal Bearor. Without question I confirmed that I would. All of us that were going to carry the casket arrived 1/2 hour before the service, and carried it from the hearse up into the church, placing it on its carrier. After the service, we did the opposite (of course). I had no idea how heavy those caskets really were. WOW!!!

The service was beautifully done, but was difficult all the same. Near the end of the service, the minister offered for people to come up and speak on behalf of Grandma. With that, our cousin, Erika, got up and walked to the podium. I was curious as to what she was going to say, but then she announced that she had a letter from my sister, who was unable to attend on such short notice, that she was going to read.

My sister was an English major in college, aspiring to be a writer. Well, let me say she was quite articulate with her words, drawing many a tear from the audience with her letter. Most people were doing fine, right up until the end when she said that she was sorry that Grandma would not meet my sister's son (her Great Grandson). That did it and a number of us were crying.

My cousin made the trek from the podium to her seat, met with the silence of those pondering the words she had just read. When she got to where we were sitting, our 4 year old daughter blurted out, "Thanks! Thank was GREAT!". This inevitable broke the ice and people were laughing. It was much needed considering the somber atmosphere.

There was a gathering downstairs in the church and everyone sat around and chatted for a little while, before the people minding the church "kindly" ushered us nearer and nearer to the doors (ok, little kicks here and there).

Just to digress for a second, back to my sister's letter, I must say that what I loved most about it was how many memories came flooding back to me about my Grandmother's house. Although my Grandmother's house was sold years ago, I still have so very many fond memories of when she lived there.


------------------------

As many of you know, in May of last year I left a job I had been at for 6 1/2 years, for a position as a Perl developer in Boston. I was not only happy to get out of a company which was continuing to spiral down the moral staircase and break into the world of Perl development. I was a contractor for 3 months before becoming full time in August of last year. (Un)Fortunately, it didn't take long for the company to show what amounted to its true colors. There were far to many things that bugged me about the group I was in, those I had to work with and most of all, THE COMMUTE, to stay with that job. So, after only looking a short time I was approached by a headhunter regarding a position in Westford, Mass.

I passed the phone interview, was pulled in for an in person interview and a little over a week later, was notified that I got the job and that the offer was being sent to me. The funny thing is that the notice of the job came within an hour of my mother informing me that my Grandmother had passed. Bittersweet really. Worst part was that I had to put my two weeks notice in over the phone as I had already left for bereavement leave.

So, after my bereavement I returned to work for a quiet, very cold (shouldered), boring, final week at work. I was so very happy when I was finally out of there.

Now, I have been at my new job for about a week and a half and am LOVING it!! This company isn't 150,000+ like my last one, its just under 1000 people, so its much smaller and more able to better take care of its employees (which is already is doing). I am in training all this week and trying to get into more next week. I know more about VoIP at this point than I ever have. Its GREAT!!!

----------------------------

So, things are just starting to settle down a bit and we are getting into our groove again. Hopefully I can keep the posts coming more regularly than before this one.

I am sad to say that my Grandmother passed away at 8:45 this morning. My mother says that she went quietly. Thank you to everyone who has sent their condolences. It is truly appreciated.

If I do not get back to anyone, please know that it is only because of everything going on at this time.

On a lighter, happier note, I accepted a position today at another company and put my 2 weeks notice in (with resignation letter) to my present employer. I must say that this is something that I really wanted as it brings me out of Boston and once again working much closer to home.

Anywho, I will be most likely out of touch this week, but thank everyone.

I know, rather odd to have a sad smiley in the subject line, but its all I could come up with right now.

My mother informed me the other day that my Grandmother was in ICU at a local hospital. She said that things were not looking good and that she had taken a turn for the worst. This weekend, we had planned on throwing a birthday party for our son, who turns 3 on Monday. Well, plans got changed, the party moved to next weekend, and the kids and I are back here in NY so that I can see her one last time. (I haven't seen her in a couple of years)

We took a trip this morning to see her in the hospital. She had been moved to a room outside of ICU and when we arrived, she was sleeping. Looking at her, I could tell that she was not doing well. She had a couple of IV's, oxygen and was breathing laboriously. It was very difficult to see her like that. I couldn't help but think back to the times when I was younger and I would be able to just run over to her house and see her.

Well, we arrived home from the hospital and my mother informed me that the doctor had called to let her know that things were not looking any better. Grandma had a rough night and her urine output was down to zero (yes, she is catheterized). She is completely unresponsive. He said that in all his year practiced medicine, he has seen this many times. He was brutally honest and said that he would be very surprised if she made it through the night. My mother has called the minister and the funeral home to let them know of the happenings.

I must admit that this is very difficult. Seeing her lying in the bed, unresponsive and laboring to breathe, it brought tears to my eyes. I remember her in better health and find her present state to be hard to take. I know that she has had a long life and she is 89 years old, but its still tough.

You Are Fairly Normal

You scored 50% normal on this quiz Like most people you are normal in some ways... But you aren't a completely normal person. You're a little weird too! Why You Are Normal: You would eat meat from a cloned animal You would rather be an astronaut than a movie star You think fishnet stockings are trashy You think glasses can make someone more attractive You prefer fiction to non fiction Why You Aren't Normal: You rather screw someone over than be screwed over You prefer the moon to the sun You find the Chicken Dance to be the more embarrassing dance You don't keep up with your horoscope You prefer flat potato chips.

1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?

2) What was your dream growing up?

3) What talent do you wish you had?

4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?

5) Favorite vegetable?

6) What was the last book you read?

7) What zodiac sign are you?

8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.

9) Worst Habit?

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?

11) What is your favorite sport?

12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.

16) Do you have any pets?

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?

18) What was your first impression of me? (hmmm...careful!)

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?

22) What color eyes do you have?

23) Ever been arrested?

24) Bottle or can soda?

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?

27) What's your favorite place to hang at?

28) Do you believe in ghosts?

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?

30) Do you swear a lot?

31) Biggest pet peeve?

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?

33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?

34) If you could live anywhere in the world where would you chose?

35) Do you believe in God?

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Well, the wife went to the orthopedist the other day to have them see her ankle.  The doctor took a look at it and said that she was not going to be back to 100% for a while as she did quite the job on it.  He officially put her into a "pneumatic cast", which is essentially the big grey boot that you see people wear (kind of like what Tom Brady was seen wearing the other day). 

Anywho, while we were there, the doctor hands me this nicely made CD with printed label and everything and says, "Here, have her x-rays!".  I'm thinking to myself, WOW, this is cool!!  I have my wife's foot x-rays on CD.  Not bulky, over sized x-ray films to cart around.  So, without ado, here are a couple of the x-rays:








Fortunately for my camera, my wife had to remove her air cast today so that she could bathe.  So, after she was done and before she put her boot back on I snapped a couple of pictures of how her beautiful ankle looks right now, in all its sprained, bruised glory:





Well, that's about all for now on the ankle.  Not a lot more to tell at the moment.  She is going to be going back to work on light duty.  In other words, sitting down and banging register or doing other sit down tasks. Here is to healing!