The Course!

With 2009 about to end, the big focus in early 2010 will be the Marathon. Came across the 2009 Course Map--hope the 2010 will be posted soon!

More Snow Pics

Snow...Snow...Snow...

Yup, finally got a White Christmas for the girls in PA. While very cold, we got out for some playing, sledding, and such. Too powdery for snowmen, but we enjoyed it!

Christmas Rush is Gone...

Yup, another Christmas come and gone. Of course, our tree is still up, I am still turning the lights on every night, and the Christmas music continues. I guess we'll stop all that by New Year's. I am just not quite ready to stop it yet.
--
Enjoyed a nice time in Pennsylvania. Kerry and I, the fools that we are, went for a quite chilly, 7 degree run, on Christmas Eve. Brrrr! Both of us almost took a spill twice, but all turned out well. I think my fingers will thaw out by June. We went to Christmas Eve service with my grandma and the highlight, besides my girls being AWESOME, was when, during the candlelight portion, Myra blows her candle out and yells, 'Mommy, look what I did.' Makes me laugh!
--
Christmas Day we did the traditional New Florence and Pittsburgh trip. While exhausting, we throughly enjoyed seeing pretty much all the family. And of course, lots of delicious, yummy food--including my Granny's rigatonis!!!! The trip home took forever, due to I-95 traffic, but we made it, and Santa did indeed still stop! He brought Lucy's 'gift' this year--the Super Fast Crawling Baby.
--
Yesterday, after my 8 mile run (Marathon training has officially started!), we went to the Flanigans. Mark, Christy, Aidan, and Maeve flew in, so we spent the day with them and Aunt Shannon and others. Fun time! Today we plan to meet them at Blue Jay Point.

My Wife Loves Me...

I asked for a Hurricanes cookie, and sure enough, she made me two!

Some Snow...

Wow! Pretty impressive when we receive our first snow of the year in December. While it did not accumulate her in Raleigh at all, we did have large flakes throughout the day, and some slush on my car that the girls and I got to go out and eat. Today now, more flurries are coming down, but again, no accumulation. Over toward Winston-Salem and in the mountains, they received upwards of 2 feet. Still a good chance for snow here this winter, considering that fact! PA looks to give us a white Christmas!

Oh Yeah!

We Love Christmas Commercials

Why I Have Problems With Microsoft

While I truly respect folks for using Twitter, I just never understood the buzz. I would read people’s tweets, but could not keep them in any kind of order. And what if I wanted to read responses to my tweets? Then I discovered Plurk. Plurk just speaks to me. I add a plurk, and people can respond directly to it. I can go back a few hours later, use the notifications, and I can see new plurks and responses to existing plurks. I can go back to my plurks and read comments. And it’s all on a horizontal timeline. Definitely allows me to visualize my day and scan through plurks to find what I need. I use it both personally and professionally, allowing for many good educational relationships to be formed, having many questions answered, and many resources shared.
Imagine my surprise, when I read the following blog post from Plurk: (http://blog.plurk.com/2009/12/14/microsoft-rips-plurk/). You really do not even need to read the blog, you get the gist of the sentiment in the URL. Seems that Microsoft stole the entire codebase, including UI, from Plurk for their Asian microblogging tool Club MSN (http://club.msn.cn/). You can view the Plurk blog page to see that not only does the user interface look very familiar, but they copied it right down to the code, substituting the names of the variables for their own names. WHAT? Microsoft, the company, much in the vein of the RIAA or MPAA, that will pretty much hunt you down and throw you to the wolves for neglecting one step in their marathon registration process. The company that charges you over $100.00 (US) for highly overrated software that did not even work with their older versions (*coughOfficecough*). Now they not only used portions of another tool, but they took the ENTIRE code base. Really, I guess this does not surprise me much, but it just frustrates me so much. We in the open source movement work so hard to make sure there are free and open standards, while entities such as Microsoft push money around so they can come out with their own proprietary formats. We work tirelessly to make sure things such as Creative Commons work better than Copyright (thank you, Mr. Lessig), then to have Microsoft swoop in without any fear of retribution. Grrrrr!

All Done

Yup...I squeaked by just enough on Wednesday to be a certified technician! Now I guess I'll start working toward my Linux+. No rest for the wicked!
--
Fun weekend. I have a long 8 mile run, and then we'll drop the girls off for an overnight at Grammie and Grandpa's. Should be fun for all!

100th Of the Year...

Yup, my 100th post of 2009. I just wish I had something to say for it.

A Good Sign???

One A+ Down, One To Go

Passed the 602 exam on Wednesday. That, hopefully, is the more difficult one. That is one of the 'elective' tests that must be passed in additional to the Essentials exam. They recommend taking them in the opposite direction, but as always, I would rather finish the difficult things first!
--
The test was not too difficult. I only saw a few things that totally stumped me (honeypot???), but for most I could reason out which were not answers, so I could find the answers. Again, I am confident going into Wednesday, but I will go ahead and study some more!

Here I Come, Pittsburgh Marathon...

Well, I registered. Early Registration ended last month, and I made the call to go ahead and sign up. So May 2nd I will run the streets of Pittsburgh for my 3rd marathon. Already have a bunch of folks up there ready to come out and support me with Krispy Kremes and Coke! Training will officially begin December 24th with an 8 miler. I will probably try to run an 8 miler tomorrow too...the Durant Park loop.

Thanksgiving Eve

Decided to take the day off on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and glad I did. With my pending certification tests next week and the week after, this gave me some ample time to study. I'm pretty confident going into it, but extra studying never hurts!
---
We also decided to take the girls to Lake Lynn. Kerry and I, when living at The Loft, used Lake Lynn as a great running trail. The trail goes two miles around Lake Lynn, features a wooded pavement trail, and some really long wooden bridges over the Lake. Of course, with all the ducks and geese, the girls Loved it! They both also pretty much ran the entire way around it. I think we have some more runners in the family!

And of Course, What's a Parade Without Hockey??

More of the Parade

The girls were pretty excited, waiting in 'parade mode' for Grammie and Grandpa to arrive...

Christmas Season Starts Officially With Parade!

Ok, so now I can get hard core--the Raleigh Christmas Parade was yesterday. Not as cool as last year, but with the wind, still a bit nipply. As you can see, my girls spent a lot of the time snacking! We had decent seats, but next year I think we'll camp out. Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers made a repeat appearance, along with Stormy. We had three balloons this year, and Glen Wesley was our Grand Marshall. Fun times!

My Thanksgiving Guests...

So your run of the mill question going around the internets--which literary figures would you want to share your Thanksgiving Meal with? Mine is quite telling. Telling, in that maybe I need to schedule that psych eval...

Lawrence Lessig, Roland Deschain (Stephen King’s Dark Tower Series), Snape, Daisy Miller (Henry James), and of course, The Mad Hatter.

Another Obvious One...

Your Christmas is Most Like: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Christmas is a big, boisterous event at your place. And no matter what, something hilarious usually happens.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

The Sun Returns!

So after our week of overcast and rainy conditions, yesterday and today the rain made a reappearance. So definitely a lot of time will be spent outside!

Busy Weekend--Holidays Are Coming!

Yup, you can tell the Holidays approach when we, yes we, go out shopping Saturday night. We actually dropped the girls off at their school for two hours (Parents' Night Out) and went to a dinner, Yummy Panera!, Kohls, and Walmart. Really nice to just spend some time together, looking casually at the stores, and not chasing two girls around!
--
Hard to believe the Raleigh Christmas parade is next Saturday. Looking forward to that with the Flanigans. Hopefully it will not be quite as chilly as last year!
--
Looking more and more like I will begin training for the Pittsburgh Marathon in May, 2010. I need to decide by next month, and after a 6 miler yesterday, I think I will be back to normal by next month. Kinda excited to do another marathon...but I really want to spend more time on 'off running' training like hill repeats, biking, and strength training.

Rain Rain, Go Away...

Seriously, how much will we end up receiving? It has been raining nonstop for over 24 hours. There goes our drought, with the 6+ inches we received. Figures, on a day off for us too! Girls showed some signs of cabin fever, so we ended up going out for awhile, but not too bad of a day. I worked on the computer awhile, setting up a new harddrive.
---
Kerry tracks out, so she'll be spending some good time with the girls for the next couple weeks. Saturday we actually have a date night. The girls' school is doing a parents' night out, so we will drop them off. Fun!

Oink, Oink...

Not Swine Flu, but another (or the same??) sinus infection. More meds, and a weekend to recover. Kerry tracked out for three weeks today, and it looks like she may head to the doctor Monday as well. It's definitely going to be a rough winter!
---
Fun weekend--long run tomorrow, then Kerry's school will hold a winter fund-raiser event. Looking forward to taking the girls to that!

Halloween Customes for Next Year

 We decided to venture out to WalMart today in search of clearance candy and costumes. No candy, but you can see the girls got a Tinkerbell and High School Musical to play dress up with.

So Our Pumpkin Was to Look Like This...

 

Halloween...Check! Christmas Music...Ready!

Yup, we survived Halloween! Actually was a pretty good day. We went to Falls Lake for awhile, both girls rode their bikes, although Myra rode hers about 10 feet and then ran the rest of the way. Probably ran about a mile when all was said and done. Then we went trick or treating. Lucy (Cinderella) and Myra (Marie from the Aristocats) enjoyed some trick or treating at a few houses, but really wanted to go back home to pass out candy to trick or treaters. Mommy and Daddy agreed! We actually did see about 10 trick or treaters, a big year for us!
---
Today, you know we began the Christmas music! Christmas is next month! It rained pretty much all day, so we did not go to the farm liked planned. We did enjoy some fun today, and the girls picked up two more dress up outfits at Wal Mart today.
---
Busy week and month coming up. Myra's first conference, and I will attend that. Kerry and the girls track out after this week. Then the Raleigh Christmas parade comes at the end of the month. Woohoo!!

New eeePC Project

So I worked on this project all summer, and finally found a good image for the eees to run Ubuntu on the 900 series. With a school buying a large number of 700 series, looks like I will be back to the imaging board...although it looks like Lucy and Myra will help!

Pumpkin Turns to a Jack O'Lantern...

Busy weekend! Lots of fun though between walks, birthday parties, trips to Grammie's, and yes, the carving of our pumpkin. This was a total design by Myra and Lucy...can't wait to see how it looks with a candle.

Lucy's New Slippers

Thanks, Aunt Jenny!

Myra's New Slippers

I just wish it was cool enough for them right now.

Brrr...and Now Sweltering...

North Carolina in the fall, I suppose. After the awesome cool weather, this week temps were back in the high 70s/80s, and today, 70s with high humidity. Pretty windy out too, so hopefully the wind takes the humidity right on out of here.
---
Interestingly wicked week here. I started at the doctor, a new one in Wake Forest, with a sinus infection. H1N1 spread through the girls preschool, and then Kerry's school. On the worst day, 8 kids were out. Now both our girls are sort of sick today. Pretty stuffy, but no fever, so hopefully we'll keep away from the pig flu.

Brrr....Fall is Here!

And we're loving it! Rainy, gray, and cold...my perfect weather. Busy week, but the weekened is just about here. One day! We can do it!
--
Nana and PapPap brought down my old Atari 2600, Nintendo (old skool), and Sega Genesis. With an alcohol rub and some blowing out, the Nintendo games worked well. Pretty neat to have Lucy and Myra play Super Mario! Although they though L and M stood for Myra and Lucy instead of Mario and Luigi.

You Are Candy Corn

Your Halloween personality is whimsical, colorful, and creative. You see Halloween as a time to get your creative juices flowing. Each year, Halloween can't start soon enough for you. You tend to go all out for Halloween. You decorate like crazy and always dress up.

What Halloween Treat Are You?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Lucy's Birthday Month Continues...

It does seem like we keep celebrating. Nana and PapPap came down yesterday with a bunch of gifts, including the Ballet Barbie Lucy wanted. Funny! Now today we will go to Grammie and Grandpa's house for more! And also a family get-to-gether. Aidan and Maeve will fly in today, so we will definitely enjoy a fun day. Kerry and I may go for a run together on the Falls Lake Trail. I am pretty excited about that!

Party Done, Nap Time to Begin...

It really was a good time. Lucy had five of her little friends over for games, crafts, pizza, and an awesome princess cake that Kerry made. So cute to see all the girls interact, and both ours definitely enjoyed themselves. Now they are resting...probably for the afternoon, on a sugar crash! What awesome times, though, to share that with our girls!

Wow, I Was a Little Mad...

Rule of thumb...always go back and read over your mobile postings. Seems I appeared quite ticked off about the whole yuppy dad incident. For more clarification, I went off to zPizza to pick up the pizzas for Lucy's birthday party. Upon arrival, there were about 4 dads with cups of Starbucks in their hand. Some were standing there, others sitting at coffee tables. TWO were standing RIGHT IN FRONT of the zPizza door. Well, here I come, walking straight to them, and did they even move? No...eventually, through some divine inspiration, perhaps, they realized I wanted to get pizza.
--
Now, I am not an angry person. Well, to rephrase, I am not outwardly angry. You better bet, however, in this case, they received some evil looks. It's all about manners, especially when you have children with you. Although, I doubt how much the children were 'with' them, as they were quite engrossed in their video games...

rudeness from yuppies

So I am mobile blogging from zpizza. Pretty frustrated, as I had to walk through a mass of yuppie dads sucking down starbucks right in front of the door. Grrrr! And they stand/sit there with about 5 of their kids sitting on the birm with video games. Really rude.

ALERT: Princess Party Imminent. Evacuate While You Can..

Yup, Lucy's Princess Birthday Party is today. On top of the 7 little girls invading our house, I also have to first go have a crown. Total day of torture! (-: No, it will be fun! Pictures coming soon!

Myra is a Baby Bumblebee!

No Surprises Here...

You Spread a Lot of Holiday Cheer

During the holidays, you represent the true spirit of Christmas. You give freely, and you enjoy this special time of the year. There's a good chance that you spread cheer every time of the year... not just during the holidays. You're kind, upbeat, and generous. Anyone who crosses your path is lucky.

Do You Spread Holiday Cheer?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

Fall Is In the Air...

Definitely cooler today. Went for a short run and you can feel the coolness, although it is definitely very humid out! After really doing a great job in the past few weeks with sticking to my training, after the 8 miler last week, I think I may have had a stress fracture in my left foot. I did a lot of icing and heating this past week, did not run, and ran for the first time today. Just a short run, and did not feel any pain...I did overcompensate for it, so we will see how I wake up tomorrow.
---
Fun weekend with the girls! Lucy's birthday is coming, and then CHRISTMAS!!

Our Blog

Just a quick little Wordle showing the most common words on our blog. The larger, the more they are used. Definitely not surprised to see the Love of My Life largest!

--
http://www.wordle.net

More Lucyisms...

So more about Lucy this time...

Bobboli--no, not the pizza, but our cat (Barnaby)

Phobo Albums! (-:

And we have this little rock with some inspirational quote on it. I saw Lucy carrying it around one day, and watched from afar to see what she was using it for. Seems, my girl with the great imagination, used it to get into Dragontale land!

Shopping At the Lucy Store

So, as I finished typing the post below, Lucy apparently worked hard to open her new store. As you can see in the picture, she prepared the store, shelves, and arranged her goods. Funny!

New Home for Penguins in Pittsburgh

On our recent trip to Pittsburgh, I took a detour to see construction on the new home of the Penguins. Definitely coming along nicely!

Mr. Mom, Part Deux

Kerry spent a night without the girls for only the second time in five years. Yeah for her! She is attending the Flanigan Girls' Weekend Out at Hidden Lake. So I am hanging with the girls for the weekend. Lots of fun so far. Right now, they have the tunnel built from our bedroom into theirs. Just simple fun, I love it!
---
I often wanted to record the Lucyisms and Myraism. They say so many things that make us smile. So I am going to take a minute to do just that!

Up'eee Up'eee-Myra's way to ask to be held. Love it!

En-nat--Whenever you ask Myra how something was (school, snack, treat, etc) and it was 'good,' en-nat is what you hear.
---
Now just a cute story. Since they have shared a room, there was only one time we discovered them together--shortly after they began, Myra crawled into bed with Lucy. Until recently. The other day, Lucy crawled into bed with Myra. Reminds me of Christmas Eves where I was up early, and my sister 'contained' me until it was time to wake up.

Mr. Mom On The Scene

Poor little Myra got sick at preschool yesterday. So today I am braving the illness to stay home with her and Lucy. Should be a good day!

Next Up: Pawley's Island

Daddy sat this one out, but the girls, along with Grammie, headed down to South Carolina to visit Mrs. Bestic, Laura, and Baby Kiera.

It's a Jungle Out There...

Or maybe a zoo! As part of our whirlwind PA trip, after Idlewild, we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo. Cole, Nana, and PapPap took us, and we met Aunt Cheryl, Madison, Uncle Gary, and Hope there as well. The girls definitely enjoyed all the animals, but I think they especially liked their buddy Madison. We're hoping to get her to visit for a month next summer! The girls love her!

We Invade Idlewild!

One of our trips this summer was to Idlewild Park in Ligonier, PA. A great, traditional amusement park for kids. The girls were quite excited, and we lucked out. The rain was heavy in the morning, and the forecast showed rain all day, but once we arrived, the sun came out and we experienced a great day.
---
Daddy was quite excited to take his girl on the Rollo Coaster, Idlewild's classic wooden coaster. This takes Lucy's coaster count to 2. Next year, Kennywood?? We also enjoyed lots of other things, like the Fishing Pond, Jumpin' Jungle, and all the other things I remember as a boy. Great experience to take my girls somewhere I went. Plus--POTATO PATCH FRIES WITH GRAVY!

Updates Coming Soon...

While on Labor Day vacation, I hope to add a bunch of photos and updates!

August Mini Trip and Big Decision...

Returned today from our whirlwind trip North of the Border. Lots of fun at Idlewild Park and the Pittsburgh Zoo. Pictures and a video clip coming soon. Lucy's first ride on the Rollo Coaster! Daddy was so proud!
---
Also, looking to make the decision to run the Pittsburgh Marathon in May. Not sure yet.

Getting Ready For PA...

Our annual summer trip to Pennsylvania begins on Wednesday. Kerry and the girls are tracked out, so they will spend some time relaxing, while I finish up some loose ends at school. Should be a good time--Idlewild, the Zoo, typical summertime fun!
---
I am beginning to consider running the Pittsburgh Marathon in March. I have been running some long runs recently, 6-9 miles, and feeling pretty good, so I will continue to consider that.

Summertime!

Been a pretty busy summer, although not like last year's flying around the country. After the trips to Texas, South Carolina, and PA last year, and with Kerry's folks moving down, this summer reeks of calmness. Except the whole Kerry going back to work thing. Our first and only major summer trip is next week. We will go up to PA to visit the family, go to Idlewild (hopefully Lucy's first Rollo Coaster ride!), and the zoo. Definitely looking forward to that!
--
Summer is about over at work too. You always hear the tech department is busy in the summer, but phew--I had NO idea we would be this busy! I currently am working on a project porting Ubuntu's Netbook Remix to about 200 eeePC netbooks. Burning the image even as we speak. Did get a new AUP passed to allow for more responsible use of web 2.0 tools, and more accountability to be placed on the teachers. We also will begin a grant project to put 60 netbooks into our middle schools. Busy year!

This is Pretty True...

Not surprised to see the 50-50 split for crime. I do have some conservative views on that area..

You Are 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal Defense and Crime: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Dog Days of Summer...

Looks like it is finally going to turn super hot. We have had many days in the 90s, and the humidity has been high recently, but no 100 degree days. Looks like that will change this week. Ew!

A Fun Summer for Daddy...

While stressful at times, in running hither and yon, I really enjoyed more time with the girls this summer. We spent large amounts of time together, the Friday half-days or days I took off. As you can see in this picture, they pretty much have the run of the house, but we enjoy it! I look to continue this throughout the year. It gives them a break from school, and me a break from work!

A Month Into The New Routine...

Everyone seems to be adjusting. Girls like their school and come home with more and more projects everyday. Kerry seems to adjusting well to third grade as well. School is school, she says. I have like my new role, being a little more of the go-to guy for the girls. Except when they wake me in the morning, like they did this weekend!
--
Relaxing weekend...an 8 miler today. Maybe some used book store action too, but no heavy lifting this weekend! In two weeks we'll make our summer pilgrimage to Pennsylvania. I will be taking Lucy on the Rollo Coaster at Idlewild. Fun!

Daddy Day Care!

So I get to spend the next two Fridays completely with my girls! Today, after we get through our morning tv watching, we will head out to Jumping Beans...one of those inflatable playrooms. Should be fun, as we have not done that since Lucy's 3rd birthday. We will see what else the weekend holds, but whatever, we will spend lots of quality time together.

Zzzzzzzzzzz...

That is my plans for the weekend. What a week! Kerry went back to the classroom, the girls went to preschool/daycare, and I exhausted myself...phew!

I Love Open Source and Linux!

I think y'all know that about me, but it just works! I spent a lot of this holiday weekend building an image for our 200+ eeePCs. We want to move them from the stock Xandros to the new Ubuntu Netbook Remix. So I finetuned the software and settings. A fun project!
--
Please check out K-12 Open Source Classroom. You can find it at www.k12opensourceclassroom.org. I try to keep it up to date with using open source in a K-12 school system.

Here is what we've been talking about:


-
Images of Wordles are licensed .

Happy Fourth of July...

Famous People Discussing the Divine Comedy

Pretty neat painting...


Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante

Morgause Car Wash

Fun times yesterday! And lots of sparkly cars/bikes afterward!

4th of July Already?

The middle of summer already, and I cannot believe it! I guess with the new schedule, summer will not seem like the traditional summer of years past. Kerry begins school next week and the girls will start preschool/daycare next week too. Yesterday, I spent the morning with them. Phew! I have a new found respect for my wife having done this everyday the past four years! We went to the store (Lowes' Foods) to find the Betty Crocker guten-free cake mixes. We found it and went home to make the cupcakes. Then we spent some time washing our bikes/trikes/Kia. Fun day! Not sure what is on the agenda today, but we will enjoy being together!

My Future Hockey Star

As promised, take a look at Lucy's stick handling! Not bad for a four year old!

Going Back...Back...Back to School...Again....

Whoooooa--o, Kerry's going back to schoooooooollll...Ok, better stop before she gets mad at me! (-: We spent this morning first taking a look at the preschool/day care we will use for the girls when they go back on July 6th, then we went to Kerry's new school. I think we chose a good one, and the girls seemed pleased. Pretty neat that they focus on the 'curriculum,' which will include Spanish, yoga (yes, yoga!), and *both* will receive daily computer time! A tech daddy's dream come true!
---
Afterware, we went to Kerry's new school. While three years old, it is still relatively new in terms of public schools. Kerry's classroom is on the second floor, and she will enjoy a ton of space! The girls helped us get some things together today. Now, just a little bit longer until we begin this crazy new schedule.