Raible Designs

One deadline down, 4 to go!

This past weekend marked a big accomplishment for me. I moved into my new place in early August and I've scrambling ever since to make it a home. The biggest thing I've been doing is painting. When I originally decided I wanted to buy the place, it looked really clean inside. However, after the previous owners moved out and took all their pictures down, the walls were pretty nasty looking. I was hoping to do a bit of touch up, but ended up doing a helluva lot more. The first week, I painted the living room and Abbie's room (pink) with the help of many friends. Julie's an expert painter and was able to knock out Abbie's room in only a few hours. The living room (with vaulted ceilings) took severals friends and I quite a few nights. Sure there was a lot of beer involved, but we were still painting the whole time.

The next couple weeks, I spent painting my office and its adjoining bathroom. What a pain in the ass. The office was bright yellow and the bathroom was dark green. Since both have high ceilings, I had to paint those too. For some reason, I chose a mostly white color and went to town. It felt like it took forever, but I finished last Tuesday. It took 4 coats to cover up the yellow and 5 to cover up the green - but it looks sooo much better.

Last weekend was a major deadline for me. I've been working almost every night to get my new place in a condition where I don't feel like I have to work on it - where I'm totally moved in. Sure I still have a lot to do in the garage (and I still need to move my tools to work on the bus), but it finally feels like a home. My deadline was largely motivated by Jack's birthday party here last weekend. I was literally working up until the minute the party started. The worst part was shoveling and hauling 20 tubs of rotten apples out of my backyard.

I have the biggest apple tree I've ever seen and it drops apples like they're going out of style. I counted them in a 24-hour period last weekend and there was 100 new apples! I thought it was cool when I first moved in, but now it seems like a lot of work. However, it's such a good shade tree, it'd be a shame to do anything to it. Below are some pics of the new place.

So what are my 4 other deadlines? I have a project due for my client, AppFuse 2 needs to be released, I need to deliver training materials for a class in October and I have to turn in my Software Summit Presentations. All are due on September 1st (this weekend). Yikes - I'd better get to work!

The First Day of School

Today was Abbie and Jack's first day at their new school and boy were they excited. With new lunchboxes and backpacks, what's their not to be excited about? They're both in preschool as Abbie is a bit young for kindergarten (she turns 5 in November). She did take a test for kindergarten and got in, but Julie decided it'd be best to try her in preschool first since her spot disappears as soon as she turns it down. I had a great morning today driving them there (it's about a mile away) and hung out for a while afterwards. Seems like a fun school - made me miss the old days of being a kid.

I went to a K-8 that only had 60 students. You think that's bad - a good friend of mine spent his entire elementary years in a 1-room schoolhouse! There were only 8 kids in his school. The Local School Directory lists that school at 6 students this year. Mine looks quite a bit smaller than 25 years ago - now sitting at 33.

They sure do grow up fast.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Today marks 3 years since Jack was born. He's grown up quite a bit in that time and seems destined to be a train conductor or a hockey player. Too bad he broke his foot a couple weeks ago - he was signed up to start skating lessons next week. Happy Birthday little buddy!

Jack's New Cast

On Monday, I took Jack to the doctor to see about getting a cast on his broke foot. We thought he might have to have surgery because the fracture is on a "growth bone", but they never mentioned it while we were there. He picked out his favorite color (red) and they wrapped his ankle up in a nice little cast. He liked it so much he was able to walk out of the doctors office.

On Tuesday, I took Abbie and Jack to the Zoo and again he did great. It's like he doesn't even know it's there. Yesterday he was running around like a madman. No, the new cast isn't slowing him down at all. The doctor said it'll be off in a month.

I'm hosting Jack's 3-year birthday party this weekend - I'd better find some markers so people can sign it.

Jack broke his foot

The scene looks innocent enough - a 2-year old boy and his 4-year old big sister having some fun playing together. They're in the 4-year old's room, being awfully quiet. The sister comes up with a great idea - they clear some toys off the book/toy shelf (which is built into the wall) and use it as a launch pad to get to the bed. A blood-curdling scream shakes the foundation of the house 3 minutes later.

I don't know how many successful jumps they made, but Jack didn't quite make the bed on one of his jumps. Julie called me yesterday to tell me he'd gotten hurt and couldn't walk. Neither Abbie or he could recall how he'd gotten hurt. He laid on the couch for a few hours before Julie decided to take him to the emergency room. It was a good thing she did - x-rays verified he'd broken his foot.

It's not a bad break, but it's a small fracture on a growth bone, so he's going to have to have surgery on it. I've been out of town this week, so I didn't get a chance to witness all the fun. After the x-rays, apparently Julie was able to pry the story out of both kids.

I'm pretty impressed that my little boy broke his first bone before he was 3. He must be a Raible.

Seeley Lake Fire Update

As reported last week, the town where I went to high school is on fire. Here's an update from my sister's friend, Aliselina Strong:

The Seeley Lake fire is the # 1 priority fire in the nation due to the number of residences threatened and the town itself. Spooky, eerie, yet beautiful too. This is taken from a dock in Seeley Lake, so you can see how close it is. Yesterday was a good day as the fire remained grounded and lines were reinforced, but predicted winds today and continuing and hot weather again as well will not help. It had cooled off into the high 80's for a couple days.

Seeley Lake on Fire

Where's my Mom the "Burn Boss" when you need her? From the Missoulian:

Seeley Lake residents prepare to flee Jocko Lakes fire
In two weekend days, the Jocko Lakes fire exploded across 18,000 acres, destroying one home, damaging several others and threatening this small western Montana town.

In doing so, the wildfire earned itself designation Sunday as the No. 1 priority forest fire in the nation.

After Saturday?s firestorm and flurry of evacuations, Sunday brought minimal winds and gave fire crews a fighting chance to get a handle on the fire, which is just a mile west of Seeley Lake and a mile north of Placid Lake.

Seeley Lake is 25 miles from The Cabin. There's unlikely to be a threat the The Swan (where I grew up). However, Seeley Lake is pretty close to home as I went to high school there and we have a very good family friend living in "Dog Town". Must be exciting times right now.

This fire made me think of this awesome photo from a few years back.

5 Years

Doh! It looks like I missed my 5-year blogiversary last week. It's hard to believe it's been 5 years since I started this blog on August 1, 2002. A lot has happened since then: Abbie was born, we moved from Morrison to Denver, Jack was born and Julie built a new house. For those that know me personally, a lot has happened this summer too.

Julie and I are getting a divorce.

Our reason is simple - we're not in love with each other like we expect a married couple should be in love. It's going to be a good move for the both of us and while it might be hard to get through the next several months, we'll both be happier in the long run. We still plan on raising a family together, we'll just be doing it from two separate households and living two separate lives. I bought a house a few weeks ago and moved in last week. This past weekend was my first "Daddy's weekend" and the kids and I had a blast.

I realize that divorce is a sensitive subject and it might not be something that folk's think is appropriate for a blog post. I started this blog in order to document my life's history and this seems like a pretty important thing to document. My life has certainly changed a lot in the past couple months and it's likely to change quite a bit more in the future. I realize I haven't been blogging much lately - now you know why. I don't know if I'll return to actively blogging like I once did, but I think I will.

I've turned off comments for this post - I hope you understand. If you'd like to tell me your story about successfully raising children of divorce, I'd love to hear about it.

Update: It figures - my contact form appears to have been broken for the last month or so. If you used it to send me a message, there's a good chance I didn't receive it. Sorry - it should be fixed now.

DSL at The Cabin

Believe it or not, I'm actually writing this entry on a high-speed DSL connection from The Cabin in Montana. The service is provided by Blackfoot and the speeds are quite good (768k/384k). We're "off the grid" as far as power goes, but we're not on the grid for communications. My dad's got a pretty elaborate generator-to-battery system setup up here, so as long as the DSL modem has power - the cabin has broadband!

Bike to Work Day

Today is Bike to Work Day in Denver. I rode my bike into The Hive this morning. It was a perfect morning for a ride - overcast and cool, with the sun just starting to poke out as I approached downtown. Unfortunately, I didn't realize all the festivities were at Civic Center Park, so I didn't win any prizes, get any breakfast or drink any free coffee. Oh well, maybe they'll have free beer somewhere on the ride home...