Raible Designs

The Job Hunt

Now seems like the time to be unemployed. Everyone is doing it. I myself have been unemployed since the Julie went into labor on August 27th. Those were the terms of my last contract - when the baby is born I'm done. Once again, I'm glad I'm a contractor b/c this unemployed thing is a just a phase I go through a few times a year.

So far, the hunt for the next gig is going pretty well. I have a couple of leads. I've done the whole interview thing and now I'm just waiting to hear back about budgets and such. So nothing is confirmed and all opportunities could fall through. Since I'd like to start working again one week from Monday (September 27th), it's time to put my nose to the grindstone and see if I can find something soon. My usual process for this is to respond to job postings on the DJUG Jobs and RMIUG Jobs mailing lists. If that doesn't work, I'll start searching on Dice and Monster next week. I've actually gotten a few jobs off the mailing lists and one off Monster - so I know most of these avenues work. I've always found looking for and accepting a new gig quite fun. If I can finish Spring Live, AppFuse 1.6 and find a new gig all in the next 2 weeks - I'll be a very happy man. Actually, I'll be happy if I can just land a new gig.

Raising two kids

As you can probably tell from my lack of posting here - I'm having a good time being Abbie's buddy these days. I've also learned a couple of things. First of all, raising two kids is easy. You just have to give up any notion of wanting to do anything for yourself. Secondly, we had a "turn off the TV week" here and Abbie didn't even notice. She's usually a huge Elmo fan - so I was a little worried. However, she only asks for Elmo when the TV is on. Kids are actually a fair bit easier to manage when there is no TV. This goes back to point #1. If you concentrate on the kids and not on yourself, it's pretty easy work. Exhausting, but easy. Chances are you won't ever regret it. That's it - we're off to Gymboree and then to the airport to pick up "Mimi" and "Baba" (my parents).

I've created a monster

This past week has been a lot of fun. In order to survive our new life with two kids, we've split up the responsibilities. Abbie is now my kid and Jack is Julie's. This means that I'm in charge of Abbie 24 hours a day, and Julie takes care of Jack. Julie's definitely got the easier deal as Jack sleeps most of the time. Abbie and I are having a blast though. We've been out and about every day - whether it's at the park, riding bikes or in the mountains hiking. Now when she wakes up she yells "Daddy" instead of "Mommy".

I think I've created a monster though. Today I went the local Starbucks during her nap in order to try and get a little Spring Live writing done. Julie called me when she woke up from her nap to tell me that I had to come home right away b/c Abbie wouldn't come out of her room. She was screaming for Daddy and wanted nothing to do with Mommy. Uh oh, this little girl is going to be awfully upset when Daddy goes back to work at the end of the month. Since I don't have a new gig yet, maybe I won't be going back to work so soon.

This week I realized why I like being a consultant so much. I've taken 9 weeks off so far this year - and after this month, it'll be 13! When I told my Dad this he made a good point, "then why haven't I seen you more?" Unfortunately, out of the 9 weeks I took off earlier this year, I went to conferences for 4 of them, and worked on Spring Live for 4 of them. The other week I was sick. Ugh, I've got to start taking more vacations like this one - they're awesome.

Frances

Julie's Mom lives in West Palm Beach, which is directly in the path of Frances. She's decided to weather it out in Miami. I don't know if Miami is in the path of the hurricane or not, but I'd love to find some blogs from that area. Blogs seem to provide much timelier news than traditional media - and they're usually more pleasant to read.

Michael Levin (of Gainesville I believe) points to buzzmodo, who seems to live in Central Florida and gives a chilling perspective of what's going on there right now.

The streets are empty, stores are boarded up, many gas stations are without gas, having sold out yesterday. Most business are closed including all of the banks.
...
I heard friends today sharing tips about where to get battery powered radios, then where to get batteries, and where to get water.

It's almost as if people are preparing for the end times.

Our Little Boy has Arrived!

We've all make it home safe and sound. This birth was pretty easy compared to Abbie's. We left for the hospital at 8:15 pm and Jack was born shortly after midnight. Julie was a champ - two pushes and he was out! Julie's mom and sister flew in so we've been having a great time with all the family around. Life is great in Denver right now.

The Whole Family

Just to warn you

Julie just walked into my office. She said, "Just to warn you, I've had a few contractions. They aren't bad, but there was one that really hurt." The plot thickens...

Update: 10 minutes apart. We're pretty sure this is it. We've booked her sister's flight. $250 for 6 hours in advance - not bad eh? Will update if there's its a false alarm - otherwise you'll have to wait a few days until we have pictures. Aaaahhh, vacation begins!

Someone doesn't like the bus

It seems that someone in Denver Parking doesn't like my bus. The day after we got back from San Diego, I had a ticket on my window for expired plates. Granted, they had been expired for a year, but I did have a trip permit. I wrote a letter and got it reduced from $30 to $15. Today, they got me again, this time b/c I didn't have a front license plate on the bus. WTF?! All it's doing is sitting in front of our house! My guess is that whoever is handing out these tickets is actually one of my neighbors and doesn't like VWs. We need to get our house finished so we can move all our crap out of the garage and into the house - then I can move the bus in there and being "the project."

Since our builder's passing, Julie has taken over as General Contractor. It's been pretty nuts around here with me working 80 hour weeks and her interviewing and managing a bunch of different contractors. 7 days and counting. Come on little one - we're ready.

Switching from AT&T to T-Mobile

We recently switched from AT&T to T-Mobile for our cell phone service. There were two reasons for this - the primary one being that AT&T's customer service sucks. Every time we'd call them to get simple issues resolved, it would take upwards of 20 minutes to talk to someone. The 2nd reason we switched is because I ended up paying over $200/month in June and July. This was because I kept using my phone for dial-up while at NFJS and JavaOne. I shoulda had more data (I was at 4MB), but their max is only 12MB, and every time I'd try to change it, I'd get fed up with waiting to talk with someone.

Julie made the switch a few weeks ago. After spending a 1/2 hour on hold (with Abbie crying the whole time) and then AT&T transferring her after she finally talked with someone - she'd had enough. A week later we received new T-Mobile phones. The phones are crap b/c they're the free ones, but they do work and we do have the same numbers. Now my problem is that I'd like to use my T637 with T-Mobile - but everyone seems to be giving me the run-around. I need to "unlock" the phone b/c the T-Mobile SIM causes my phone to display "Invalid SIM".

T-Mobile stores say to take it to AT&T, and AT&T stores say to call customer service. I've called customer service, and after waiting 20 minutes, they said to call Sony Ericsson. Now I come to you my mobile friends - Julie said she saw something on the web were you can send your phones in to get them unlocked. I don't know if it's legal, but I'm willing to do it if I can get my T637 working again. Any advice is appreciated.

Just take her with you

With my hectic schedule lately, it's been tough to get a workout in and not piss off Julie or Abbie. When I'm done working, Abbie wants to play like a crazy lady. I don't blame her - we have a lot of fun together. If I finish the day and walk into the living room to tell them I'm heading out to get some exercise, both of them get mad. Julie because I've been working all day and she wants a break; Abbie because she's ready for some fun.

About 2 weeks ago, we were all a little huffy at each other as I wanted to head out for a run before DJUG. Julie was trying to convince me to skip it so I could spend some time with Abbie. Abbie saw I was leaving - put on her shoes and ran to the door to go with me. Everyone was tense and Julie says "Just take her with you!" I laugh b/c our stroller isn't a jogging stroller, but then I realize it wasn't a bad idea.

Abbie usually can't sit still in the stroller for more than a few minutes, so even though I thought it would be a disaster, I took her anyway. I jogged and pushed her around our local park - and to my amazement - she loved it. She didn't want to get out once - she just giggled and laughed and pointed out all the dogs and airplanes. Since then, we've gone a couple times.

Getting bold with this new "take her with you" mantra, yesterday I took Abbie on a hike. Rather than a simple walk around the lake, I wanted to take her on a real hike. So we trekked on out to the foothills, strapped her in the backpack and headed up Mt. Falcon. This is a beautiful trail that I used to mountain bike a fair amount. I expected an hour trip, but it ended up being an hour and 40 minutes. How did Abbie do? She loved it. Sure we had to stop a few times, and of course she didn't want to get in the backpack after doing so, but I had lots of joose and gummy bears, so she was happy. It was something I'll remember for the rest of my life - especially the last 20 minutes where she made me sing to her the whole time. A true father-daughter experience - I'm looking forward to many more. I can't wait until Raible #2 arrives, I'm taking a month off and hope to enjoy a lot more days like yesterday.

False alarm?

Julie just went to the doctor because she's been up all night and feeling some pain. She was in hard labor for 24 hours with Abbie. She definitely doesn't look like she's in labor if compared to her previous one. But you never know. The nice thing is the hospital is only two blocks away.

Update: It was indeed a false alarm. However, the doctor said her cervix was soft and the baby's head is right there. He also said it's probably a sign that labor will start in the next day or two.