Raible Designs

Awesome Birthday Present: A Kegerator

I'm proud to say I have the best parents in the world. For my birthday this year, they bought me a kegerator. It was delivered last week, but I didn't get a chance to put it together until this weekend. I've never had so much fun putting together an appliance.

Since it's summer and I'm in Colorado, I decided to get a keg of Sunshine Wheat to start things off. So far, there's issues with 1) too much head and 2) it's not quite cold enough. I think the first can be fixed by playing with the CO2 tank and settings. The 2nd might only be fixable by moving it inside. If you have a kegerator and have advice on how to fix these issues, please let me know.

Why did your parents buy you a kegerator?

There's actually a good reason for this. A few years ago, Julie and I made an agreement that I could buy a kegerator when I paid off the last of my student loans. While Julie and I aren't a couple anymore, it still seemed like a good idea. I paid off my last student loan in June. However, it wasn't my loan, it was my Mom's. When I was applying for colleges way back in the early nineties, my parents said I could go to DU, but only if I paid for it.

My Mom took out quite a few loans over the years to help with tuition, and I finally paid them all off. When I was with my parents over the 4th, I joked that they should buy me a kegerator since I was paying off their loans. Lo and behold, my subliminal messages worked and I ended up with a tap at my house. I couldn't be happier.

Update: Speaking of birthdays, this is the first post I've had to start the 7th year of this blog. My first post was on August 1, 2002.

Update 2 on Friday: I haven't had a beer from the kegerator since Sunday. This evening I poured a fresh one and I'm happy to report the head and temperature issues seem to be fixed.

My OSCON Aftermath

Last week, I had a great time at OSCON '08. However, I've been paying the toll ever since. For the 5 days prior to OSCON, I stayed up late working on my presentation. I was furiously trying to develop an application with Rails, Grails, Flex and GWT. In the ~30 hours I spent developing the application (Rich Resume), I was able to finish the Rails and Grails pieces, but didn't get much farther than "Hello World" with Flex and GWT.

Even though I had my kids the weekend before OSCON, I still managed to get 4 hours of sleep each night. The next couple nights were no better. On the day of my presentation, I started to feel sick. Luckily, it didn't affect my talk and it never really hit me until the next day. On Thursday, I woke up with swollen tonsils and the feeling of an oncoming cold. I attended the conference on Thursday and went to bed early to get lots of rest.

On Friday, things weren't improving, but they weren't getting any worse either. My family and I attended the Oregon Brewers Festival and had a great time. Yes, I actually survived taking my kids to a Beer Fest for several hours. That evening, we stayed the night at the Kennedy School and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Again, I went to bed early as the kids and I had a 7:30 AM flight the next morning.

On Saturday, I started to lose my voice and my cold was still bearing down on me like an avalanche. I drove up to Vail for a friend's wedding on Saturday night. Of course, I stayed up too late and drank too much, but I did have a heckuva a good time.

When I woke up Sunday, I was in bad shape. The hangover wasn't bad, it was the body aches (from the cold) and the fact that my right eye was draining and it hurt to open it. A friend had to drive me home because I couldn't put my contacts in. I went to bed when I got home (around 5) and didn't wake up until noon the next day (Monday). I called in sick yesterday and went to the ER in the afternoon (I couldn't find a doctor who'd have me). The doctor in the ER said it was Pink Eye and gave me some drops to make it better. I came home, took a nap and crashed for the night a couple hours later.

I called in sick again today. I woke up around 9 this morning, took a nap 10 minutes later and finally woke up around 1:30 this afternoon feeling halfway decent. The body aches aren't nearly as bad as they were and my eye is no longer draining.

The worst part of this whole thing is I lost my glasses a couple months ago so I've been living w/o good vision for 3 days. I can read things 12 inches from me, but watching TV doesn't work too well. Since I can't wear my contacts for 7 days, I hopped on my bike and rode to the nearest LensCrafters to get a new pair of glasses. Those are scheduled to be done in the next 5 minutes (I'm typing this at the Apple Store in Cherry Creek Mall) and I'll finally be able to see again.

Lessons Learned: Sleep is important, get lots of it. Don't get Pink Eye and a cold at the same time. If you wear contacts, make sure you have a backup pair of glasses for when you get Pink Eye.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I turned one year older. It's strange to look back and see that I didn't blog about my birthday in 2007 or 2006, but I did in all previous years. Reflecting back on things, my birthday celebrations have gotten better over the years (we do a golf tournament every year now), but the working-on-my-birthday thing has gotten worse.

From my first birthday post in 2003:

Ever since I worked at eDeploy.com, where they gave us our birthday's off, I've continued to take the day off.

As a contractor, it's pretty easy to say "I'm not working on Wednesday, it's my birthday". Last year was the beginning of the downturn - when I started working on my birthday. I'd just started working at LinkedIn the week before. My birthday was on the Tuesday of the 2nd week I was on-site. I found it hard to say, "I need Tuesday" off, so I worked through it. This year, as an employee, I worked through it again. I don't recommend it.

If you can, take your birthday off. I'm going to see what I can do at LinkedIn to make it a company policy that employees get their birthday off. Wish me luck.

Raible Road Trip #12 Vacation Report

I'm happy to report that the kids and I made it home safely last night after a heckuva Road Trip. We were gone for a total of 8 days and we drove for 4 of those. Here's some stats from Snow White:

• 43 Hours
• 2248.3 Miles
• 150.9 Gallons of Gas
• 14.9 AVG MPG
• 52 AVG MPH

Of course, these stats include day-to-day driving while in Montana.

Driving to Montana
We left early on Saturday morning, waking up at 4:30 and were on the road around 5. This was brutal considering I went to bed 4 hours earlier the night before. My Dad and I took turns driving and tried to listen to an audiobook (Spook Country) along the way. However, whenever one person wasn't driving, they fell asleep so the whole idea somewhat failed.

We arrived in Yellowstone around 5PM and checked into our campground. The ranger told me there were 5 grizzlies in the campsite and that we should pack up our food and put small pets in cars for the night. Of course, I couldn't wait to tell this to Abbie, who is always scared that bears will attack us when camping. I finally calmed her fears by telling her I wrestled a bear once when I was a kid and won pretty easily. After setting up camp, Abbie took a swim in the "freezing cold" Yellowstone Lake and we ate dinner and climbed into our tent shortly after.

On Sunday, we woke up and made it out of our campsite by 7:30. We drove to Old Faithful, enjoyed an eruption and proceeded to have a nice breakfast at The Old Faithful Inn. After checking out some more geysers, we made it out of the park around 11. We stopped briefly in Bozeman to see an old friend, hit Clearwater Junction and Lucky's (for huckleberry milkshakes) around 6, and made it to The Cabin just before dark.

At The Cabin
The few days we spent at The Cabin and in the Swan Valley were a lot of fun. I got to drive the family Excavator with both kids on my lap. Jack was operating the bucket while Abbie was operating the swivel of the cab. I took my mountain bike, so I got to ride some old trails I used to ride all the time as a kid. Not only were there beautiful views on the trails, but I also got to experience quite a wreck that sent me head-first into some rocks and bushes. It was the first time I've wrecked in a while where I thought to myself "that was fast and hard enough to break some bones". Luckily, all I received were a number of scratches and bruises.

On Thursday, we took my sister to the train station in Whitefish. We left early enough for my dad and I to get in some golfing at Meadow Lake Golf Course and the kids to hit Big Sky Waterslides. Apparently, they didn't have a height requirement because they were able to go on all the slides.

On the 4th, we finished Abbie's Princess float in the early morning, took a quick sauna and headed down to the Swan Valley Parade. We'd been talking about the parade and Abbie's float for several weeks, so I was kinda nervous that I might mess it up. Not only did everything go great, but there were several hundred folks that clapped when we drove by and commented on what a beautiful princess Abbie was.

After the parade and drinking some good ol' Busch Light from the "Beer Garden", we headed to Holland Lake for a swim and canoeing. We drove back home in time to play a game of horseshoes and get the fireworks setup for the evening. We had a good fireworks show (with yours truly in charge) and enjoyed lots of laughs with old friends.

The Drive Home
As usual, the drive home was the longest portion of the trip. The first day, we left the cabin around 11 and pulled into Billings around 5. The kids (and dog) did pretty good as we only needed to stop once. The shorter first day turned out to be a good idea since the kids like hotels so much. Yesterday, we left Billings around 9:30 and cruised along mightily until we hit the Colorado border. There, traffic came to a standstill and we suffered through stop-and-go the rest of the way home. After 9 hours, we pulled into my driveway, exhausted.

I don't believe we'll be driving next year. The Road Trip to The Cabin is something that should only be done every couple years. Snow White continues to be an awesome car. We towed a sawmill (on a trailer) to The Cabin and didn't even feel the load. With DVD screens in the back of both front-seats, it was an excellent road-trip vehicle for the kids. Also, it's smooth suspension made for an enjoyable experience for everyone (we drove Julie's Honda Odyssey one year and Abbie kept getting sick from the DVD screen bouncing). The more I drive it (esp. skiing, camping and on road trips), the happier I am with the purchase.

For more photos from the trip, please see Raible Road Trip #12 on Flickr.

Raible Road Trip #12

It's hard to believe it's been a little over a year and a half since Raible Road Trip #11. That's far too long ago and I'm pumped that tomorrow marks the beginning of Raible Road Trip #12.

My dad flew in last night and we've been scrambling for most of the day getting ready for our early morning departure tomorrow. I'll be waking up in about 4 hours, stuffing the (hopefully) still-sleeping kids in the car and we'll be off to Big Sky Country. We expect to be driving for 12 hours tomorrow. Our destination is Grant Village on Yellowstone Lake.

After a nice night on camping on the lake, we'll be driving through Yellowstone, checking out some gooey geysers and then driving through Montana to The Cabin. I'll be off the grid for a week and I couldn't be happier.

Happy 4th everyone!

Related: Raible Road Trip #10.

Bike to Work Day

Today is Denver's annual Bike to Work Day. While I try to bike to work everyday, it's fun to see others trying it. It's also fun to look back in this blog and see what past years were like.

In 2004, I'd just landed a gig with OpenLogic (when there was only 2 employees). The commute was great, but I only rode to work once that whole summer. I never returned to "the office" for the rest of that contract. In 2005, I'd just started working for Virtuas and didn't have a bike. Last year, I rode to The Hive.

This year, I'm riding to LinkedIn Denver (yes, we still need to decorate). I have to say, this seems like one of the best years yet. I've never enjoyed working in an office as much as I have this year. However, with 4 Mac Pros in one room, we might have to buy a window A/C unit. The room we all work in is a good 10-15 degrees warmer than the other rooms.

Traveled Coast to Coast Last Week

Last week I traveled from Denver to Mountain View with the UI Frameworks Team. It was the first time all four of us traveled together and we had a great time. On Monday night, I helped LinkedIn Softball beat the only undefeated team in our league. Pitchers were a flowin' at a nearby beer garden afterwards to celebrate.

On Wednesday evening, we returned to Denver and I enjoyed a night with the kids before flying out on Friday to Boston for the American Craft Beer Fest. The flight was no fun as it took me 12 hours door-to-door (on the way home too). I stayed with friends in Concord, Mass. and enjoyed the "country livin'" a whole lot. They had just moved in a few weeks before, and it was awful nice being in an area with huge lots (1 acre +) and neighbors that come over and talk for hours.

On Saturday, we had a great time at the ACBF and even ran into some good friends (Chad and Mike) from Denver. Amazingly enough, both of these guys are going to Oktoberfest at the same time we are. Below are some photos from the festivities (more on Flickr).

On Sunday, we went to the Old North Bridge and learned some fascinating stuff about the beginning of the American Revolution. Did you know that 1/2 of the British Regiment that went to Concord stopped for pints at 9 in the morning? If they hadn't, they would have been able to surprise the Minutemen from behind and the American Revolution may never have happened. I also liked the fact that after the British were fired upon they ran back to town and then had breakfast for a couple hours. Maybe I should modify this Wikipedia page to add these tidbits we learned from our tour guide?

All in all, it was a great week of traveling. The flights to and from Boston were way to long, but the memories I created were worth it. I'll be in Denver all week, enjoying Bike to Work Day on Wednesday and then heading off on vacation for a week. I love summertime.

The Father's Day Camping Trip

This past weekend, I started a new tradition: taking my kids camping for Father's Day. Since I wasn't sure of the best place to go, I asked Do you know of some good camping spots for kids in Colorado? I received some good responses, but waited until the "day of" to decide where we should go. Bad idea.

I decided on Peaceful Valley since they didn't seem to require reservations and it wasn't too far. The kids and I left town around 1:30 and arrived at the campground (North West of Boulder) around 3:00. It was packed and there were no spots available. After driving around for another hour, I realized I might end up on the FAIL Blog for being the Dad who couldn't find a camping spot and had to spend the night in a motel. I don't know if it's because I grew up in Montana and we never had to reserve campsites or if it's because there's a lot more people in Colorado than I realized. Regardless, I believe I learned my lesson when it comes to campsite reservations.

After stopping in Nederland and asking for good camping spots at a gas station, we proceeded to drive around for another hour trying to find the perfect site. Finally, at around 5:30, we found a site in the high mountains near the Eldora Ski Resort. It was along the road, had a river nearby and included a family/friends/kids troupe of 15 w/in 100 yards.

We settled in by setting up the tent, starting a campfire and beginning a search for bears (kids' idea). We never found any bears, but we had a lot of fun exploring. I knew my mission had succeeded when Abbie said to me, "Daddy, I love camping." As it got dark, we put the fire out and climbed into the tent and our sleeping bags. Being that there was still snow near our campsite, I was a little worried about the kids getting cold - especially since their sleeping bags are only rated to 35°F.

As we were getting ready for bed, my car suddenly roared to life. Yikes, WTF?! Then I remembered the remote start I had installed after Snow White got molested. I scrambled for my keys, found them under my knee and quickly turned off the car. After telling some stories, we all fell asleep 20 minutes later.

In the middle of the night, Jack woke up every 10 minutes for a couple hours. He'd crawl out of his sleeping bag and then claim to be cold. I'd talk him back into his bag where he'd warm up and fall asleep. Abbie slept all night and never woke up. At around midnight, my car again roared to life. Since my keys were hanging on the tent wall, I was quite surprised. I scrambled to find my keys in the dark and turned it off again. This happened every 3 hours throughout the night. I'm sure the neighbors loved it considering I have some fancy glasspack exhaust system that makes it pretty loud when it starts. I'd be interested to know if this "start every 3 hours" phenomenon happens every night. Maybe that's the reason my tank is always empty.

The good news is Snow White never woke the kids up, so they seemingly got a good night's sleep. There was frost on the ground when we woke up the next morning, so it did get cold. However, when the sun hit us at 8:45 in the morning, the temperature rose from 40°F to 60°F in a matter of minutes.

The next morning as I was packing things up and the kids were running around, Abbie came up to me. She asked, "Daddy, when can we go camping again? I had so much fun!" I told her she was in luck - our next camping trip is only a couple weeks away. My dad is flying in next weekend and we're doing the annual 4th of July trek to The Cabin. On the way up, we'll be camping in Yellowstone Park. I can't wait, but I should probably start working on that reservation.

Have you taken your kids camping this year?

Do you know of some good camping spots for kids in Colorado?

This weekend, I'm taking the kids camping for the first time. It seems like a good Father's Day tradition and this seems like a good year to start it. I'm thinking of taking them to either Golden Gate Canyon State Park or Rocky Mountain National Park. The later is likely to be a lot colder at night, but it probably has more scenic camping spots too.

I'm looking for suggestions of good spots to camp w/in 2 hours of Denver. Got any?

Good times with kids in Colorado

A friend recently sent me an e-mail asking the following question:

May be coming to Colorado in early August for a good break. Can you share ideas on having good times with kids?

His kids are 3 and 5 years old, the same as Abbie and Jack. Here's my response:

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