November 2005 Entries

Well, day three is in the books at the new job and I am absolutely loving it! I'm getting along great with everyone and already loving what I am doing!

Heh, I've only been there three days and they've already bought me lunch twice! I should probably explain. The have a couple of traditions where they buy lunch: on a new employee's first day, and on an employee's birthday. Well, my first day was last Monday and my birthday was yesterday! Timing is everything right?

Today I worked on one of our client's ASP.Net web application and created a new page. It was fun to get back into programming again. Like I said before, I have a real good feeling about this!

My in-laws went to Colorado last month to visit our family. They snapped this stunning picture of Pike's Peak while they were watching my nephews play football. Notice the fog down in the valley and the beautiful cloudless blue sky! We don't see that much around Michigan. Great picture Mom!

Tell me again why we live in Michigan?

On this Thanksgiving Eve of 2005, I am thankful for...

• my wife - after 26 years, the fire still burns
• my kids - they are so awesome
• my sisters - we are all we've got
• my in-laws - there are none better
• my friends from NW - a great bunch of guys and gals who are going through some tough times right now
• The Solutions Group - who you say? The Solutions Group, my new employer!!! Yes, I have a new job! As of next Monday, the 28th of November, 2005, I will be doing software development for The Solutions Group in Ann Arbor Michigan. I have never been so excited to start a new job! I have a really good feeling about this.

I am truly blessed.

Being a Detroit Lions fan can be agonizing. For that reason, when you live in Michigan and you are a Detroit Lions fan, you have to have a backup. What's a backup? A backup is another team that you can root for that doesn't suck like the Lions. If you are a football fan and a fan of the Lions, it is essential that you have one. If you don't, your head gets awfully sore and bumpy from pounding it into the wall.

Anyway, my backup is the Denver Broncos. I like the Broncos for several reasons...

1. They are usually a good team and fun to watch.
2. My sister lives in Littleton Colorado and introduced my dad and me to them many years ago.
3. I wish I lived in Colorado so having them as my backup gives me a link to Colorado. Besides my sister of course! :)
4. There are more but, you get the picture.

Anyway, the other day I found a pretty neat neon sign for the bar on Ebay and it arrived in the mail today. Looks pretty cool if you ask me.

Ever since I read about Ruby and Watir on my friend Jeff's blog, I have been fascinated by them. Ruby is an awesome language and Watir is just too cool. It does things that other companies (ie. IBM/Rational, Mercury, Segue, etal) charge thousands and thousands of dollars a seat for. Anyway, now that I'm gettin' the hang of Ruby and Watir, I'm starting to automate everything I do on the web. Even the simple things like logging in to web sites, searches, you name it. I can't be doin' all those mouse clicks and typing and stuff. Now it's one click and away we go! Besides, it's pretty cool watching the browser do all the work on it's own. Fun stuff. Thanks Jeff!

After putting the summer furniture away yesterday I spent about an hour blowing the leaves that fell from the tree in the backyard out to the street. I thought I'd get a head start since the tree was still pretty full. I woke up this morning and looked out the kitchen window to see this! When I was done yesterday, there wasn't a single leaf in the backyard! It's really windy here today and we're supposed to have gusts up to 50 mph. So much for getting a head start!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's always a depressing job to put the patio furniture away bacause that means they'll be no more sittin' outside and dreary, gray, cold, winter is right around the corner. So long summer of '05. You were a good one.

One thing I don't put away is the grill. We BBQ all winter long.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is today's Westland, Michigan weather forcast according to Intellicast.com...

Thursday: Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High near 70F.

I hereby submit that any time we have a forecast like this in Michigan in November? it's a holiday and we get the day off. Whadya think? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? Help me out here people.