Sup Y'all

So, yeah, it's only been more than a year since I've last wrote. Time flies and I've been, you know, keeping things going both at home with Kim and the Kids and at work. Jayden's now 6, in Kindergarden, and had to have a couple of his front baby teeth pulled to make room for his more permanent fixtures. Josie is 4 and keeps both Kim and myself on our toes. Last year in preschool she was learning some sign language so Kim got some signing DVDs from the library and Josie's been eating it up. It's fun to see her so excited to learn.

I'm not sure what I'll do with my blog. I feel like trying to include some more software development information if I can...it's something to write about at least and I feel like giving back to the community.

Getting Caught Up

Okay, so i'm not a steady blogger. I'm not really sure what the reasons are, but some of them are just being busy being a dad, Twitter, and Facebook. It seems that I've done more micro-blogging if you want to call it that using Twitter.

So, what's been going on? Well, we had  a great Christmas and 2009 started out pretty well inspite of The Great Depression II. I'm very fortunate that the Ag industry is holding strong.

Jayden has been learning all the time and is becoming the little man.  He loves to figure out how everything works. He also loves talking your ear off once he gets going. He also knows how to use pause on the DVR. It's sad he won't even know what a VCR was. (Actually, it's a good thing the VCR is dead. :) ) Jayden got to make a pirate box to put his pull-ups into and have the pirates visit with a bunch of treasure. We're so glad that he's doing pretty well in making it through the night without a pull-up. He still wakes up wet occasionally, but he's getting there.

Josie is a daddy's girl. It's not uncommon to hear her tell me, "I need you" and then proceed to try and get you to drop whatever you were doing and pick her up. I don't mind. She's my little Princess, Tinkerbell or Cinderella depending on the day. One day we tried to straighten her hair, but I told Kim that I never wanted it straighted again...unless Josie does it herself when she's a teenager. She did not look like our little Josie at all.

Kim has been feeding her facebook "addication" and has hooked up with quite a few people from her past. It's pretty cool to think we can reconnect with people in such an easy method.

Well, there you have it.  The start to 2009.

Dirty Business

This will probably be short. It's amazing how fast Josie is catching on to things. She's almost 19 months and so far has sat on her potty and gone in it 3 times. Yeah! Amazing, I know. To most people this isn't a big deal, but to a parent, this is huge. :) Now, if we can just find small enough undies for her. The ones Kim got last night are huge and that's the smallest they make.

Zune - Not Made for Anyone

Okay, I thought I'd give it a try. I bought a 30 Gig Zune and took it for a drive. I owned a 20 Gig iPod before the Zune purchase, but it didn't have video. In deed the Zune has video but in Microsoft's infinite wisdom all video is converted to the wmv format instead of just supporting the major players (mpeg4, divx). There used to be hacks, and maybe they still work but I didn't try it, to force the Zune to "use" the other formats. But again, the Zune software will convert it to wmv instead of keeping it in the original format.

Okay, now for the real pain with Zunes. Microsoft did update the Zune software and underlying firmware which is great. I do like the fact that they can upgrade the Zune to be a newer version, but in my eyes, it was a PR stunt and they wanted to get something, anything no matter what it consisted of, out there for the Christmas shopping rush. They may have upgraded the whole thing, but they left out the critical pieces (Forum Entry). Unlike the iPod, the rating system is limited to a heart, a broken heart, or not rated. There isn't a smart/auto play list, only the playlist that you create by dragging the song to the playlist. For some people, this may be enough.

For a power user like me, having the smart play list found in the iPod is a must. I have 6 smart play lists which excludes songs from other smart playlists and includes into a playlist based on the rating of a song. For example, I have one name 1-No Kids. It's the primary one that I use and as you can probably guess from the name, it excludes Kids music. It also excludes slow music (that's in another playlist - 6-Good 4 Soul). The reason I use a number is that it sorts the playlists so that I can easily go to a play list while on the road with the iPod. I also have playlists based on ratings. 2-Best Stuff, 3-Great Stuff, 4-Good Stuff; each having songs included based on the 5 star rating scale.

One thing that I got used with my iPod using it as a hard drive. I didn't store a lot on it, but it came in handy when I wanted to copy something from my work computer to take home and work on. The Zune doesn't give you an option to even try and access it as a hard drive. Yes, there were hacks out there, but why fight it. The iPod just worked right out of the box. Who cares how you market a device, you shouldn't restrict a user in the use of the device.

Lastly, the odd thing about the Zune website is that you have to go to zune.net instead of zune.com. You'd think Microsoft could at least buy zune.com and forward it to zune.net.

Welp, off to listen to my video iPod that I traded the Zune for on Craig's List.

Mastering the smallest things

Well, the time is finally here. Jayden has mastered potty training and only wears his pull-up at night and when taking a nap, otherwise, he wants his "scibbies" and won't let us put on a pull-up. It's something how we grown-ups can think of it as a small thing to use the bathroom. In Jayden's case, it's like a horse and water. Jayden did it on his own time. You can't just force a kid to use it no matter how hard you want them to. At any rate, we're extremely happy that he is using it.

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Howell's Tree Farm to get the kids their pumpkins and to have some fun playing with all the stuff they have setup. While there we also saw Amy and Zach Larson so that was cool. It had rained the night before and it was pretty muddy, but we had a good time anyway and washed our shoes when we got home.

More pictures can be seen at the Halloween 2007 Picture Set.

Lots of Little Things

Okay, so the title may be a little misleading. There have been a lot of "little" things happening the past month or so.

Jayden now asks for a Dewski whenever Kim goes into Quicktrip or Kum & Go to get her fountain Dew. I'd say that's a pretty good accomplishment. :) He's almost there with using the peddles on his trike and bike. If only he were there with potty training. We're hoping that a switch will flip and he'll want to finally use his "big-boy scibbies". He talks about everyone else using the potty, but still no go. He still has the occasional melt down, but, knock on wood, they don't seem as frequent as before. He's also looking forward to his birthday and now asks for things for it.

Josie has started to walk on her own. She does mostly walking now instead of crawling. It's fun to watch her make her tiny steps. She's kind of wobbly at times, but is doing a pretty good job so far. She's also good at getting into trouble. It won't be uncommon to turn your back for a second and find her standing on top of the kid's picnic table. She is learning a lot fast. She's also good at being a Daddy's girl.

House painting is done for the most part. I painted the back last week so the "normal" areas to paint are done. I'll probably try and get the garage door and the concrete part of the foundation done sometime before it snows. I also have to make a cover for the sandbox. I'm tired of looking at the blue tarp that covers it now.

Sick Kids

Let's see...where to start. We've been pretty busy despite the coldness outside. Kim's with Josie at the Doctor's office as I write this. Jayden fell asleep on the couch while watching Sesame Street. It all started last Wednesday. Jayden came down with a fever and then it turned into coughing. We called the doctor's office and they said to bring him in on Friday if his fever didn't go down. It did go away on Friday, but then it came back yesterday. His coughing has been getting somewhat better, but he still looks like he's going to cough a lung up when he coughs. So, I think Josie got the same thing as Jayden. I'll find out when Kim gets back. She coughs like a dog and has a high fever (103.3). Nothing like having Josie rip your heart out when she can hardly breath. :( Luckily she could get an appointment this morning. Jayden goes in for his appointment at 1:00 today as he's still running a fever. That's one of the annoying things of having sick kids on the weekend. You can't visit the doctor's office.

Aside from the kids being sick, we painted our living room a couple of weeks ago. We were sick of the poorly painted yellow that the old owners had. Funny it took us about 4 years to get it painted. :)

Update: Well, it appears that Josie has croup and Jayden has ear infection. At least Jayden already had it once so now we know what to do with Josie. Josie seems to be doing better after they gave her a steroid shot. Jayden's at least eating some cereal now.

Getting the Hang of Christmas

Sorry to all of my viewers for not updating for more than a month. It's been a busy time of year, between getting Christmas presents purchased and a project at work, I haven't had a lot of time to get this updated.

Last weekend we had Christmas on the Wagner side. We all had a good time and watched the normal movie, "Christmas Vacation". We all got some good presents and more presents.
Yesterday Kim and the kids hung out with Emily and Mady. The kids exchanged gifts and apparently Jayden wanted to keep opening gifts...even though there weren't anymore. So, I think Jayden is getting the hang of Christmas or at least the gift part. haha.

Josie has been growing a bit...not as fast as Jayden did at her age, but still growing. She had her 6 month checkup yesterday and was a whole 12 pounds. She's starting to sit up on her own now. She'll sit for about a minute then fall over.

Don't forget to good and if you need help tracking Santa be sure to visit the Santa Tracking Site.

Merry Christmas!

Mini Projects

Finally, we're done painting the front of the house. I, with the help of Tony and Martin, got both windows replaced. What a relief to have the job done. The windows work really well in sealing the cold out and keeping the sun from baking the bedrooms. I still have to do the trim work on the inside, but at least I don't have to worry about getting another warm day to get the job done. The staging is all put a way so I don't have to look at it any more. Sad to think that the staging was up in some form in front of our house since July.

Jayden has been busy being a big brother. He does pretty good with Josie, but at his age, just doesn't grasp being gentle. :) He's also showing his being 2 a bit more. He knows what he wants and can have the occasional meltdown if he doesn't get his way. He LOVES the new Car's movie that just came out on DVD. He sat through the whole thing watching it when we got it and now wants to watch it all the time. I think Thomas the Tank Engine is getting jealous as he's starting to fade in the background. But, he still loves trains so Thomas shouldn't feel too bad.

Josie's been having fun in her bouncy seat. She just loves it. She's also started to roll over on her own from her stomach to her back. It's amazing to see how much different she is from Jayden. She's way ahead of Jayden. She likes to try different foods and usually drinks her whole 6 oz. of milk within 15 minutes. She also has found her voice and likes to "talk". I hope it's not a sign of the future when she gets a cell phone. :)

Kim has been keeping herself busy (most of the time...but she gets bored staying at home) being Mom. She does a great job keeping everything ship-shape in spite of Jayden's use of the living room as the play area. At least Jayden likes to organize his cars. He usually has them all lined up all straight and tidy. Kim's also getting everything ready (shopping) for Christmas which helps keep her mind occupied. She continues to read lots of books. I think she reads one a week. Too bad I didn't have more time to read. Oh well, maybe when I retire.

About three weeks ago I was driving our Focus in a parking lot and heard a weird noise coming from the front. Hmm. Brakes? Sure enough, the brakes were getting bad. I only heard the noise about 2 times and didn't think they were that bad, but as you can see from the picture, they were almost metal against metal. So, Zach found me a good place to order them online and because he'd just replaced his brakes in his Focus, helped change my brakes this week. What a difference that can make. They are a lot better and shouldn't make my wheels dirty as I ordered the ceramic pads. w00t!

New Digs

So you probably...
didn't even realize that you are reading this blog from a different location than you usually do. I pulled up roots and moved from shieldhost to a new host, Site5. How do you like the new location? haha. You may notice the page load faster as I think the servers have more umph than shieldhost did.

I'm glad...
I made the move as it will give me an opportunity to get more for the money. Most notably, I'll again have SSH access (Shieldhost turned it off saying, "It isn't secure."). FTP is about as open as you can get and is the only alternative they gave for accessing your files online. For those of you who aren't computer savvy or know what I'm even talking about, it's about equivalent to sending a pay check in the mail without the envelope. Whereas, SSH everything is encrypted (Sending the check through Paypal). In addition to the whole SSH access, Shieldhost has been lagging on support (see Cedric's article). It takes them a while to get back to you if you have problems. I am fortunate that I didn't have the problems that Cedric did, but I did have some issues with Shieldhost (but, they are cheap...that's one point that I'll give them).

Some other features...
of Site5 include the ability to setup source control with either cvs or subversion. I've been working on some free lance web projects and having source control on the web server is something I've wanted for quite a while. I'm used to having source control at work and it would be a nice to have feature. Additionally, I am also pleased that they support RubyOnRails. I'm very new to it, but from what demos and documentation I've seen, I think it will speed up my web development and maybe organize things even further. I currently develop mostly PHP sites(outside of my real job which consists of Java, .Net, and a few other languages/environments). For PHP I'm using an open source framework called CodeIgniter which is based on the MVC approach, as is RubyOnRails.

Now for the good stuff...
Here's the kicker part of the whole Site5 deal. I can get a MultiSite account (Yes, more than just a domain pointer). You can have up to 6 domains on the first MultiSite plan and they all have an independent "control panel". You can add users to each site and they won't be able to see the other sites that you have on the main account. You can also maintain all sites from the main account. All this for $8.25 a month if paid annually, or $6.21 a month if paid in 2 year increments. This is all through their promotion and after the time you pay for (1 year or 2 years), the price goes up, but you can always switch to the shared account. More details can be found at their MultiSite Webhosting Specials page.

I know...
this sounds like an advertisement, but I've done my research in hosts and Site5 has to be the best one that I've found. They are truly setup to succeed and in turn help you succeed. They have a ton of support listed through-out their FAQ pages as well as their knowledge base and forums.

Walking at 18 months!

We can now breath a sigh of relief. Jayden is now walking on his own...to a certain degree. He won't get up from sitting without grabbing on to something, but once he's standing up, he can walk on his own if he decides to. He's done with physical therapy for now but will be getting some shoe inserts to see if we can correct his ankle from turning in. He had his 18 month doctor visit with the a different pediatrician on Wednesday. We're glad we switched doctors for him. The new doc is much better and takes the time to listen and actually hears what we're telling him. Jayden's now starting to say a few more words: Car, meaow, truck, yuck (pronounced ggaayh and also refers to the trash can), Dada, Mamma (when mad), done and maybe a few more that I can't remember.

Let's see what else...oh yeah. Work's been okay. I now have an appreciation of why corporations don't perform. I can't complain on my end, but it sucks that the only way management sees groups better interacting is to split up people between two groups to "make" everyone get along. Pretty stupid way of trying to increase productivity if you ask me. Oh well, I guess I have a job yet.

Baby number two is coming along nicely. Kim seems to be not as tired as she was first starting out. She usually makes it till 10 instead of the normal 9:00. haha.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all. Jayden just wanted you to know that he's been a good boy and likes to get presents. :) We've had fun with the Wagner side, now it's time to have some fun with the Minnis side. Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas.

More pictures can be found in the Christmas 2005 Set

 
 
 

Round Two

Well, it's time. Time to let you all know that Jayden's going to be a big brother. Isn't that something! :) Kim, Jayden, and I went for her first Doctor's visit today and everything is going smooth. The new lime (that's the size of it right now) had a heart rate of 160 which is great! Kim's been doing pretty well this week as prior weeks she's been feeling nauseated. But, she still is pretty tired...she could go to bed at 9 and some nights before that. She likes snack time too. Our due date is June 28, 2006, so mark your calendars.

Jayden's been practicing being a big brother these past two months. Kim's watching her cousin's baby, Kellen, two days a week. At first Jayden couldn't figure out what the deal was, but he's getting better at it now. In fact, now he knows how to get Kim's attention. As soon as she starts to feed Kellen, Jayden makes a mad dash for the stairs. Now, that would be fine and all, but he still hasn't mastered the last step yet, so Kim has to go stop him before he goes up. Jayden's getting almost there with walking. If we start walking with him holding his hand and then let go as he's walking towards the couch, he'll sprint for the couch or love seat. Maybe by Christmas? He likes to keep us guessing.

Ooooh, The Weather Outside is...

The weather is pretty snowy considering all the weather people predicting a warmer and drier winter. I can live with snow, even though it takes 40 minutes to get 12 miles (honestly, I can't believe people can't drive in snow), but I hate the cold.

In other news, Jayden's been rocking the house. He's warmed up to the singing/dancing "snowpeople" (snowmen). He's crawling up the stairs now with a little help at the top. He hasn't quite figured out how to get to the top and crawl farther from the steps to sit up. Most of the times he's got his collection of pots and pans strewn across the floor.

Let's see what else...oh. Thanksgiving was good. We traveled both up North and South to visit both sides. It was good to see my Mom and Dad. Especially after Mom being in the hospital for 4 days. She was/is having problems with her gall bladder. Next week she's having surgery to get it removed. Hopefully that will help her feel better.

Things that SuX0rz

I thought I'd take some time to rant on about some things that suck. Some are work and some are personal related items.

This time of the year provides a lot of "admin" time at work to do all sorts of surveys and "training" at work before the end of the year.

1. Jayden getting croup - He's getting better, but he still has a little problem breathing at night. He's not as bad as he could have been though. The Doc said that he's actually 2 weeks behind the peek Ankeny experienced 2 weeks ago.


2. Getting sick - because of a combination of changing of the weather and losing sleep while helping Jayden breath at night I have a slight cold.


3. Paper work - this includes, but is not limited to: flexbile spending account submital forms, performance plans, rebates (give me the price of the item from the start), timesheets.


4. When people ignore things or don't read the signs - For example, today I went to get my usual glass of water from the refreshment center but no cups were to be found. So, I went over to a different refreshment center and brought some back. Two people during that time had told me that it was like that yesterday too. Hmm. On the wall there was contact information to re-supply missing items. I emailed them and bam...we have cups.


5. Occasional Driver Training - I've been driving for 17 years (actually more when you consider driving around the farm) and haven't been in an accident yet...is it really necessary to take "Driver's Ed" each year just to drive for work?


6. Ethical Awareness and Decision Making training - Actually, I'm glad I had to take this one. Case in point, Martha Stewart. I don't want to be sent to prison for being unethical. Perhaps Bill Knapp and his buddy Dennis Elwell should be put through the same process as Martha. (Des Moines Register article)


7. The price of iPods - I really wish I could afford one.


8. Minimal Tinker Time - There needs to be 26 hours in a day so that I can tinker with new computer related technologies.

Well, that's it. I could have made the top 10 list, but I can't think of anything more to rant about and I think I feel pretty good now. haha.

Firefox Rules

It's been a while since I changed the theme for my blog, so last night messed around with a new design. It's not mine, but I like it so I'm using it (it's released under GPL) and it's easy to get implemented without a lot of time. You'll notice two different views depending on if you are using the better browser, Firefox, or the crappy non-standards compliant browser, Internet Explorer. Firefox does a great job with transparency while IE lacks any easy work around (1 2 or 3). So, you'll have to put up with the not so fun view with IE till version 7 comes out...but don't hold your breath for that one working either.

In other news, Jayden's been getting more teeth. He's been working on getting his molars in the back already. This weekend when he was eating it looked like he was trying to swallow his food with-out even "chewing" it. Kim figured out Tuesday that he's getting his back teeth and rather than feel more pain he was swallowing the food almost whole. He's also now walking with us holding one of his hands...so won't be long and he'll be tearing around the house on his feet instead of his butt.

Trade Offs

Well, you saw it here first. Kim decided that she ain't a "Minivan Girl" so we decided to trade off the minivan and got a Pontiac Vibe. It's a pretty fun car to drive and is cheaper to drive than the van ever was (hopefully 35 mpg). We purchased it from Bob Brown GMC in Ankeny (Jamie Widen was our sales person). We were very happy with the way they treated us. Unlike Ramsey, they actually wanted our business.

Jayden's been learning like mad. He's now pulling his phone around by the cord like it was his once lost puppy. He's pushed through 2 more teeth this last weekend. He's cruising furniture now. He loves popcorn, but won't eat very many food groups. He can clap, do the "so big" move, dance a little (sitting of course) and has just started noticing his hair. We went for his physical therapy session yesterday, but the therapist called in sick and they forgot to call us. :( So, we'll continue to have Jayden kneel on and push his little cart. He also enjoys bouncing on the yoga ball we got to help him do his exercises.

Year One

Man, where has the time gone. Jayden celebrated his 1 year birthday last Monday. He did OK until everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He got lots of gifts and he is really thankful for those of you who gave him something. Ah yes, and he's finally mastered holding his own sippy cup. Check out his Year 1 gallery.

Today he went in for his 1 year checkup. They gave him his two shots and stole some blood from him. Needless to say, it pissed him off royally. He's at 19.1 lbs and I think 30 inches.

As you may have seen I modified the gallery a bit. It's more simple to manage and now has friendly URLs. Hope you like it. Sometime I'll be adding a frame to the front page that shows the newly updated pictures. It'll probably take me a bit to fix previous articles with links to the old gallery so be patient.

Fun in the Sun

Well, Jayden and Kim are camping for the next two weeks. It's kind of nice for Kim to be able to get out of the house, although, she said it can be rather hard getting everything done with Jayden at her hip. ;) Today my coworkers and I got to go to the Iowa Cubs game with the rest of the Pioneer IM group. It was a pretty good time and am glad that we get the opportunity.

Jayden now has 4 teeth and seems to be giving us a little break before getting more. He had his 9 month visit to the Doc today and everything's right on course. Jayden also had his 9 months pictures last week. You can find those along with some more recent pics in Jayden's 9 month gallery.

All Focused in and Ready to Go

Well, we decided to trade the truck in. We ended up going to Willey's of Nevada to get it traded. They offered a pretty fair price. I got the Ford Focus ZX5. Kim calls it a "cracker box" but I think it get's the job done. It's a lot easier to park than the truck and gets a lot better gas milage. Check out the pictures of me and Jayden in our new cars in the gallery.