Raible Designs

Back From Florida

We all survived the Florida trip and we arrived home safely a couple of hours ago. Abbie was awesome on the plane(s) and only cried when she was hungry. I'll post pictures soon. Also, it was cool to find that there was FREE wireless Internet access at the Fort Lauderdale airport. That's where I discovered this site was down, and Keith fixed it over the course of the day. It turned out to be related to the Tomcat/MySQL Connection - which was preventing the AJP Apache/Tomcat connector from starting. Restarting MySQL fixed the problem.

BTW, if you're flying Delta on your next trip - didja know you can check-in online 6 hours before your flight? You just print out your boarding pass and show it at the gate. Very cool in my book.

Blogging from the Airport

I'm at the Dallas/Forth Worth airport right now, coming to you live courtesy of Wayport ($6.95/day) and Mini-Me. I haven't been to the airport in 6 months and I can tell - some cool things have happened.

• Delta allowed me to check-in in under a minute using the e-Ticket checkin with my credit card. It was the easiest airport checkin I've ever had, which was very cool.
• Everyone at DIA discovered the security shortcut through Terminal A. It now has a line longer than the regular security gates.
• WI-FI at the airports. They had it last time I tried at DIA (March 2002), but you couldn't connect. You just got a logon screen with no way to pay-for-access. In Denver, it was $10/24 hours - in Dallas it's $3 cheaper.

So this post cost me $7 - hope you enjoy!

Happy Birthday Russ

Happy Birthday Russ - even though your birthday isn't until tomorrow here in Denver.

Speaking of Denver, it was an awesome day here - hitting almost 70 degrees in the city! Julie and I took a Abbie on her first hike at 3 Sisters Park. A good time was had by all...

Wireless Printer Server - doesn't work

I bought a Linksys Wireless-Ready USB Print Server last week. I have a Dell TrueMobile Wireless network setup that works fine with my PowerBook and my XP machine. However, I am unable to get the print server on the wireless network - it just won't show up, and the WI-FI light on the little bastard won't light up either. It works fine when I plugin an ethernet cable - but I want wireless damnit! I'm using a Dell TrueMobile NIC, but I think that should work since it works fine in my Dell with WinXP. Any ideas?

Thanks Russ!

Wooo hooo!! I made Russ's Daily Must Reads list! I must be doing something right, eh? Thanks Russ - much appreciated.

Music is for the mind

Julie and I are going to look at stereos for the new rig this afternoon. I've always had a nice stereo in my car, and she wants to get rid of the big speakers I have - too much trunk space. So I've agreed to put buy a whole new system (aww shucks), and we're also thinking about getting XM Radio. A friend of mine also recommended SIRIUS. Has anyone experienced either of these? Supposedly, you can get an XM Radio plug-in for your existing car stereo for around $200. Why am I so enthralled in music and good car stereos?

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water-bath is to the body.

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Marrying inside the clan

Andy asks if I married inside the clan. In a sense, Julie married "outside" of the clan. She got a degree in MIS and I'm the one who had the business and foreign language degrees. Yes, we both do computers, so I guess I married inside the clan. She doesn't program per se, but on her last project, she was writing XSDs and she has written a .NET app using Visual Studio.NET. She said it was super simple, and it just worked - sounds like my kind of software ;-). Even though she is (or was) in the industry, she doesn't care for computers all the much. I'm not allowed to touch her machine - no upgrading from Win2K -> XP and she hates the Apple, especially the mouse.

In conclusion, Julie knows computers, but doesn't have a passion for them like me. When she was working, she was the highest paid woman I know. For awhile there, she was even paid more than me! Until I told my boss I needed a raise b/c my wife was making more - and it actually worked (Julie's reaction to this like - "Yeah, that sucks! If I went into my boss and told him my husband was making more than me, he'd say 'So?'").

The Worst E-Mail I've gotten in a while

This is an awful e-mail to get when you're planning on working all weekend:

From: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2003 12:00 AM
Subject: 6 in. of New Snow at Beaver Creek

The Road to Happiness

As you may have noticed, I didn't write anything on this site yesterday. Believe me, I wanted to, especially after reading this call to arms for Struts Developers. But instead, I did some work on my New Years resolution. First I went to the gym and played basketball (yeah, you really wanted to hear about that ;-) with one of greatest friends, Shane Murphy. Then I came home and relaxed a bit. As I was getting ready to jump on the ol' computer and blog about how much I loved Hibernate and such, Julie asked me if I'd change Abbie. I said "Sure!" As I was changing her, she smiled at me and giggled. If you have children - you know how cool this is - especially when it's one of the first times. She started smiling a couple of weeks ago - but now you can tell she really means it. So I said, "happiness it is," and I read her a story (Father's Flying Flapjacks) and played with her for a good hour. We were sticking our tongues out at each other and had an awesome time. She is the coolest kid in the world! What an sweet way to end the day. I'm happy to say that I ended up falling asleep (with Abbie on my arm) without getting on the computer.

My Favorite Restaurant: Chipotle

I was watching The Osbournes this evening and found it hilarious that Ozzy is addicted to Chipotle Burritos. He's eating 2-3 per day! I can understand his addiction, as this by far my favorite meal. The first Chipotle was actually started right by DU, and my senior year I lived on the same block as it. It was awesome to have it on the way home from class. They've come a long way since then, and now Chipotle restaurants can be found all over the US.

I hope there's one in Florida by the time we move there this summer. Those are the two things I'll miss the most - Chipotle and good Microbrews. Of course I'll miss all the awesome mountain biking and skiing - but we'll be back here someday, and I'm sure I can enjoy the beach for awhile. The last couple of days here in Denver have been awesome - 70 yesterday and 75 today!! How fricken sweet is that - global warming is working!