Raible Designs

Back from the Hills

Last week at the Cabin was a great experience. It was one of the first times I've been there in a while where I didn't want to leave. The kids loved it, partly because of the 4-wheeler, but also because they were outside the whole time. Allowing kids to get as dirty as they want is kindof fun. Abbie liked it so much she said she wanted to move there. Who knows, maybe she will someday.

When we arrived at the cabin on Sunday, there was lots of tall grass everywhere.

My mom, a.k.a. "The Burn Boss" (that's her new title at work), made quick work of the fire danger and spent the next 3 days mowing down the grass and killing any knapweed she found.

When we weren't hanging out, riding "Rockit" or building the new cabin, we enjoyed Glacier Park and putting a foundation under my parent's bedroom.

On the way home, we stopped and saw my aunt in Helena, then spent the night at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. Saturday was a long 11-hour drive through Wyoming.

All in all, it was a great road trip. I think I've had enough driving for a while though. In the first week alone, I hit 7 states in 7 days!

Going off the grid

Today marks the beginning of Raible Road Trip #10, Leg #2. My parents and I, as well as Abbie and Jack, are leaving soon to drive to Spokane, Washington. We'll stop in Spokane tonight, where we'll meet up with my sister and Julie. Kalin arrives later tonight (hopefully with a case of cider from her cidery), Julie flies in tomorrow morning. From Spokane, it's about a 4-hour drive to the cabin.

Think we're the ones having all the fun? Nope, Julie is in Vegas right now with her sister. They flew in last night for 12 hours of good ol' Vegas fun.

The cabin, which you can read more about on my about page, is "off the grid" in Montana. There's no electricity, no running water, and 120 acres of lush Montana acreage. There's a sauna for bathing (good ol' Finnish roots) and a generator if we really need power. My mom prefers no generator, my dad likes power and bright lights. I suppose I could dial-up to the 'net if I wanted, but MacBook Pros don't have modems, which is how I prefer it. Vacation shouldn't involve a computer - so I'm pretty pumped that mine will be pretty much useless all week. Besides, we're pouring the foundation for the Cabin #2, and that sounds like a lot more fun than any of this computer stuff.

I'll be back in Denver a week from today, but I don't expect to have any desire to work/blog/etc. until Monday the 7th. And with that, I'm officially on vacation.

Heading back to Denver

Today is only day 3 of Raible Road Trip #10, but it's likely to be the most stressful one. I'm at Portland's Airport (on their free wireless) getting ready to hop on a plane back to Denver. The Max worked great this morning. I caught it outside the Convention Center around 4:30 a.m. and was checked in before 6:00.

I land in Denver in a few hours, pick up the kids, and fly back - arriving back in Portland around 2:00 this afternoon. Abbie is 3 and 1/2 and Jack is almost 2. Jack will surely impress me with his deviant and defiant behavior. There's nothing like flying with a 2-year old. They won't sit still for more than 5 seconds, and they love to kick the seat in front of them. Should be interesting for sure - wish me luck!

10:30 a.m. Update: Arrived in Denver at 9:30. The CowBoy Bar on Terminal A is the best place to get power at DIA. There's 3 outlets in the corner on the left when you walk in. The kids should be here in an hour, our flight to Portland leaves at 12:30.

Update 2: We arrived in Portland virtually stress free at 2:00. The kids were great on the plane. Jack slept half the time and Abbie colored Dora pictures. The only hard part was carting two backpacks, 2 car seats and 2 kids through the Portland airport.

Driving to OSCON: Day 2

This morning, Jim and I slept in a bit and hit the road around 11. The time zone changed on us after an hour and all of a sudden, we were destined for Portland in good time. It was an enjoyable drive through the Columbia Gorge with some beautiful scenery.

We arrived in Portland around 4:15 p.m. and checked into our hotel across the street from the Oregon Convention Center. It didn't take us long to realize the wireless sucked (b/c it's trying to suck off the free wireless next door).

We hopped on "the Max" and headed into downtown Portland. We found the local Rock Bottom Brewery, found out they didn't have wireless, and ended up at Jax Bar. They have free wireless and cold Guinness. You couldn't ask for much more.

Driving to OSCON: Day 1

Today, Jim and I began our road trip to OSCON. We got up early and were able to get out of Denver around 5 a.m. We stopped at 5 p.m. in Boise, Idaho. We drove around town, found some swanky hotel, and settled in for the night. We've been enjoying free wireless and Deschutes Mirror Pond Ale in our hotel bar for the last couple of hours.

Wyoming was definitely lacking scenery, as was Utah and most of Idaho. We made the Wyoming border by 11 and Idaho by 2. It's been a great trip so far. It looks like we have 7 hours left until we arrive in Portland. Below is a nice picture of Boise I found on Flickr.

Glacier Park

James Duncan Davidson recently took a road trip through Montana. In particular, he journeyed through Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It's a similar trip to the one I'm about to embark upon. Pictures from his trip are available on Flickr.

I especially like his photos of Glacier Park. It's been far too long since I've visited this incredible place. Since it's a mere 2 hours from the cabin, I hope to add it to our list of "fun things we did in Montana."

Julie's House

For the last 3 months, Julie has been doing the "flip this house" thing. Today, it went on the market. Click on the image below to see the listing and pictures. She thinks the pictures look best in the 2D mode.

Nice work darlin!

Update: Believe it or not, it's now under contract. Sold in under 8 hours!

The Dark Side of Business Travel

The current gig I'm on is quite fun, mainly because I'm doing it with a bunch of co-workers and we get to write code all day. The downside of it is we have to fly out to the client site every other week. The traveling isn't too bad because we're all good friends, and traveling with good friends is quite a bit of fun. Today, the "fun" part of it is getting stretched.

We're flying back to DC this week, and Jim picked me up from my house at 11:30 this morning. We headed to DIA for a 1:30pm flight. When we arrived, we discovered our flight wasn't leaving until 4:30pm.

At 4:30, United cancelled the flight.

We're still at DIA, scheduled to leave on an 11:40pm flight for Orlando. We get into Orlando at 5:00am, then jump on a flight to DC, arriving at 8:00am. Ugh.

Should be an interesting day tomorrow. Our current plan is to grab a few hours of sleep when we get there and show up at the client shortly after noon. As for the Wednesday night Tech Meetup, we're still planning on Brickskeller, but are open to other suggestions.

Ouch

This past weekend, I hurt my back pretty bad and I've been in severe pain all week. I did a back flip on our trampoline, and even though I landed it, I tweaked something pretty good. Now I'm like an old man: hobbling around, groaning when I get out of a chair, etc. I even thought about calling room service this morning to tie my shoes. My co-workers don't think I can hurt it anymore by not getting help immediately, but the pain certainly isn't going anywhere. In fact, it seems like it's getting worse. Good thing I brought a heating pad to work today.

Washington, DC

It looks like I'm going to be in Washington, DC on and off throughout the rest of the summer. Besides the regular touristy stuff, what's fun to do in this town? I'll be traveling with good friends from work, so I'm actually looking forward to the trip(s).