Raible Designs

Construction on our house starts next week!

We finally closed on our construction loan to double the size of our (675 square foot) house this morning! It took us 2 months to get a loan because of some credit issues our builder had. We stuck with him because we interviewed a bunch of builders/architects and he seems like the best fit for us. He also came highly recommended from the folks he's done remodels for. So while I'm pumping out code this spring, I'll get to listen to a team of construction workers tear this place apart.

We will have to move out about a month or so after they begin. Luckily, our neighbors (who are wicked cool) just bought a new house and we're in negotiations with their landlord to move in there. Hopefully it all works out as planned. I expect this place will be done when Munchkin #2 is about 2-3 months old - or right around Abbie's 2nd birthday. Happy Day!

Tucson Rocked - long live the Saguaro

We arrived back in Denver safe and sound this evening. The only casualty was we forgot Abbie's pack n' play in DIA's parking lot. Doh! Maybe we can call and get it back tomorrow.

Erik Hatcher recommended some good spots to check out. We had dinner at El Charro's in downtown Tucson. We also spent a day touring Saguaro National Park and the Desert Museum. We played lots of Pinochle and my Aunt and Mom had a great time with Abbie.

My Aunt Mary Craig is quite a woman. She grew up in Montana during the great depression and her mom and dad (Hilma and Hank) were gold miners. They never made any real money off of it, but my Aunt has many stories about living in mining camps and helping her dad out when she was a kid. Her most amazing feat was going back to school in her 40s, getting her CPA and becoming the head of the Department of Revenue for the State of Montana. After that, she went on a speaking tour of the US about her childhood and how she became of the of the top 10 business women in Montana (at the time).

Meeting with Rick Hightower was a real treat and I got a lot of great ideas, and a ton of motivation from our meeting. I expected to sip Starbucks for about an hour, but time flew and we ended up talking for around 3 hours! Heckuva guy - he had a lot of knowledge and a great perspective on the whole independent consultant lifestyle I live.

Unlike most vacations where I drag myself back to the computer, I abandoned all electronics for the weekend and now I'm super motivated to pound out some code this week. My sister flies into town a week from today for a few days, so I've only got 7 days until the next vacation begins. Family Rocks!

Heading to Tucson

We're leaving in a few hours to go to Tucson, AZ for the weekend. We're flying to see my Great Aunt Mary and her friend Judy - and my Mom is going to meet us there as well. Hopefully it'll be a nice relaxing weekend since there will be 3 ladies fawning over Abbie. I'm also meeting up with Rick Hightower since he lives there. The snow is supposed to start in Denver this afternoon - good timing eh?

I've never been to Tucson, but here's a webcam so you can checkout the weather there while I'm gone. Have a great weekend, I'll be back on Monday night.

Fast Company's Fast 50

Via Erik, Six Apart makes Fast Company 50. Personally, I don't give a rat's ass about Six Apart, but I do think it's cool that Chipotle made the list. The first Chipotle is right next to DU on Evans and we currently live a mere 6 blocks away from it. In fact, I was just telling Abbie how good it is when we walked by it this evening.

What a weekend...

I pulled myself out of bed and onto the keyboard with great reluctance this morning. I've been goofing off with old college buddies for the last 4 days and it's been awesome. Thursday night was my friend's rehearsal dinner and the night that folks started rolling into town. Friday night was Shane and Jodee's wedding, where I was a groomsmen and Abbie's dance partner all night. Saturday we attended a DU Hockey game with 20 other people. The score was 9-7 and it was quite a game with DU being victorious. Following the game, we verified that the DU party scene was alive and well when we met up with a bunch of "actives" from our Fraternity. We had about 10 alumni with us, so it was pretty neat meeting everyone. Yesterday was spent skiing like madmen on a beautiful day at Breckenridge. It took me two Red Bulls to drive home last night without falling asleep. What a weekend - I'm glad it's over, I'm just not that young anymore...

Off to Vegas!

I'm flying to Las Vegas in a couple hours for a weekend of booze, gambling and good friends. It's one of my best friend's (Shane Murphy) bachelor parties. There's 16 of use meeting there from various time zones. Most of us went to school together - and all the others I'm good friends with. Should be a great weekend with lots of laughs and reminiscing about old times!

Have a great weekend!

My Dad's heading to Africa

My Dad is heading to Tanzania (Africa) for two weeks on Friday. He works for the BLM as a Wireless Engineer - here's what he described his trip as:

I'm going to do a Radio System Assessment for the Ugalla Game Reserve for the Division of Wildlife of the Republic of Tanzania. I will be working with the Division of Wildlife and Africare to determine a radio system that will best allow the anti-poaching patrols to more effectively do their job and to enable other Game Reserves to comunicate with Ugalla. Ugalla's base station will be located in Tabora which is in western Tanzania. The asessment trip will allow us to determine the best communication solution for their needs, to develop guidelines for the purchasing of some of the equipment, and to haul and install what equipment we do purchase at a later date.

Pretty cool, eh? Good luck Pops!

Daisy the Cat, R.I.P.

Most of you won't care about this, but I need to write it down so I know the day that Daisy died.

Today was one of the first days we had a to make a real sacrifice as parents. Daisy was a cat that Julie had when I first met her. When Julie got Daisy, she was so small she could fit in the palm of her hand. Daisy was weaned too early from her mother (who was killed by a snake), so she had a personality disorder. Basically, she was mean and hated other cats. Daisy hated all the guys that Julie had ever dated (in college), until she met me. Julie knew it was special when she saw Daisy didn't hate me. Daisy traveled with us from Florida to Colorado when Julie moved here. She lived with us in our one-bedroom apartment, moved with us to our first house, and was a great cat for Abbie's first year.

Even though Daisy was mean, she was also the nicest cat I'd ever met. She'd always cuddle up on my lap when I watched TV or when I was working on the computer. You just had to watch out when you walked - she was an ankle biter. For the last year, she's been a pretty good cat with Abbie - just sitting there when Abbie poked and prodded. However, in the last month, she's started to fight back and has bitten and scratched Abbie quite a few times. My take on it was "good - Abbie should learn not to mess with the cat." Besides, Abbie wasn't crying - so it couldn't hurt too bad. Julie had a different take on it - especially since the folks at day care asked where the scratches came from.

When I got home tonight, Julie was in bed with Abbie at 7:00. "7:00!?" I thought, "that's a bit early." Then Julie told me "today was a very bad day" and she proceeded to tell me that they took Daisy in to the pound. Damn - my favorite cat. Ever. Gone. They got a new one, but it won't be ready until tomorrow. I want Daisy back, she was the bomb.

I've been bitten

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a pounding headache and a clogged noggin'. I felt like shit, plain and simple. I killed my 4:00 a.m. alarm and slept until 9:00. I IM'ed in sick to work and I've been on the couch all morning. I still have a headache, and have lost all motivation to do anything computer-related. It's actually a nice feeling - I feel free, even with the headache.

Hacked (Again)

This morning, a reader was kind enough to let me know that this website has been hacked.

The web pages at http://raibledesigns.com/tomcat/ with information about Apache, Tomcat and load balancing have been defaced.

I've contacted my sys admin and will hopefully get these files restored in the next few hours. I could do it myself, but I want to 1) see if this is a widespread problem (i.e. not just me) and 2) make sure all my defaced files are replaced. I got hacked a couple of months ago too, and I believe the same files were defaced. If it's another ISP issue, vs. someone logging in as me - it might be time to make the leap.