Raible Designs

Weekend with Daddy

When I came home from Michigan a couple of weeks ago, Julie had a surprise for me. "Since you've been traveling so much lately, I think it's my turn." Her family is going to the Bahamas for Labor Day weekend, and she was going to join them - w/o me or the kids. We could have all gone, but going on vacation with two kids is not a vacation. Besides, it's in the Bahamas - and fishing for lobster and boozing on a boat all weekend is not a kid-friendly environment. So I'm flying solo with Abbie and Jack for the weekend.

Julie left this morning on a 6 a.m. flight - first class no less. She had some miles from years ago and decided to treat herself right. So far it's going well - Abbie is still sleeping and Jack is over making farting noises in the corner. Today's activities should be a lot of fun - riding bikes to breakfast (they ride in a trailer behind mine), followed by a hike, naps - and then the camping expedition begins. They love "tents", but the the only tent they've ever seen is in the bed with the covers. Tonight we're going to pitch a tent in the backyard, roast some marshmallows and hot dogs over the fire pit and pretend like we're camping. Hopefully we'll remember to come in before the sprinklers come on in the morning.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Happy Birthday Jack!! It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since Jack was born. He's quite a guy to hang out with now - he's walking, laughing and smiling like you wouldn't believe. He always wakes up with a smile on his face too - quite the opposite of his big sister.

I'd post a recent picture, but I killed my PowerBook last week, where all our pictures are stored. In the meantime, here's a video of him walking from last week.

Hiking at Red Rocks

Awesome weekend in Michigan

This weekend was a blast. I flew up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a good friend's wedding on Friday. The wedding was near Ludington, which is right on Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful resort-town, where the water was warm, the sun shining and the beer ice cold.

It was a great trip, but after being stuck in Chicago's O'Hare airport last night - I hope I don't have to travel again for a while. At one point, the United flight to Denver had 143 people on the standby list! After a little Motel 6 4-hours-of-sleep action last night, I got on the 6:30 a.m. flight and made it back to Denver this morning.

Shifting Priorities

This week's Denver JUG meeting looks to another good one - this time Bruce Tate is presenting Beyond Java and Sharad Acharya will talk about dynamic Struts Forms. I'm sure I could learn a thing or two from attending this meeting, but I'm going to have to pass.

It's time for me to shift my priorities. The 2nd week of every month, there are two meetings I'd like to attend - but I've only ever attend one (DJUG). I don't attend both b/c they're back-to-back and that's not very nice for me to leave Julie to fend for herself with the little munchkins. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to quit going to DJUG and start going to the Colorado VW Bus Club meetings instead.

It's time to start restoring the bus. I started it up this weekend and it roared to life after sitting for several months. I took it for a spin around the block and I can feel that it's ready. I am too.

Jack is walking!

Last Monday, while I was in Portland, Julie called me while I was having lunch with some fellow DJUGers. She was ecstatic, "Jack took 3 steps!!" For the rest of the week, everytime I called home - I asked if he'd taken any more steps. The answer was always "No". I was somewhat glad to hear this, as I felt like a horrible father for being away when my boy took his first steps. The lack of walking only lasted until Wednesday - when Julie called me to tell me he'd just taken 20 steps!

Needless to say, when I arrived home on Friday evening - it was very cool to see Jack walking around our house. He holds his hands straight up in the air when he does it, and he tends to grunt a bit during the process. It could be one of the cutest things I've ever seen. If he's anything like Abbie, he should be able to break into a full sprint by his 1st birthday at the end of the month.

What happens at my house when you're gone for a week

I was out of town last week and Julie architected and started building a deck while I was gone! We still have quite a bit more work to do - but she did the hard part. Her mom was in town all week, so apparently she was staying up until midnight working on it everyday. Of course I knew this before today, but didn't have any pictures to impress you with.

San Francisco Giants

This evening, Matt Filios and I headed down the street to Giants Stadium to watch the Giants play the Braves. The park was very cool, the Guinness was good - and the Giants won in the bottom of the ninth. It was an awesome game and our 20th row seats behind home plate were pretty nice too.

In San Francisco

I'm in San Francisco this week doing some Spring Training. I flew in this afternoon and I'm staying only a couple blocks away from Moscone center. It's kinda weird being here when JavaOne isn't going on. It's even stranger to be staying on the block next to Kate O'Brien's and the Thirsty Bear. About an hour ago, I got to watch the fog settle in over the buildings - which is always a cool site. I'm looking forward to a fun week of teaching and showing developers how their lives can be vastly simplified by using Spring.

It's been a while now...

Today is my birthday and I'm happy to say that I'll be goofing off all day. 18 holes this morning and a former-company reunion party tonight. I'll spare you from my birth story this year. If you really want to read it, you can check out last year's entry.