Raible Designs

Life Update: New Job, Same House, and Same Awesome Family!

It's been over eight years since I wrote a life update blog post. At that time (2016), we'd just moved into the "Raible Ranch", the bus was finished, and the kids were in high school. I'd just started one of my few-and-far-between full-time jobs at Stormpath.

Fast-forward to today. Our kids are in college at the University of Colorado during the Coach Prime Era, we're empty nesters with an affection for live music, and our pet zoo is cuter than ever.

You probably know me. But in case you don't, my name is Matt Raible, and I'm married to a fabulous woman named Trish McGinity. She's been a hero in my life ever since I met her in 2010. She dazzled me so much, I asked her to marry me at Versailles in 2011. We married in my hometown (Condon, Montana) in 2013, on the most beautiful lake you've ever seen.

When I met Trish, I was an independent consultant, and she was in cybersecurity sales. On a fateful night in 2010, on a friend Jarvis's birthday, I asked her what she had done for a living. She said, "Have you ever heard of OWASP?"

My heart lifted and I felt a moment of joy. This woman was speaking my language! 14 years later and Oh My!, Trish has had an incredible influence on my life and career.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack is growing up fast and today marks his 20th birthday. He's a sophomore at CU and loves to play basketball. In early July, we made a trip to Montana where he learned how to wakeboard and took a helicopter ride with Abbie and Baba (my dad).

He amazed us with his perseverance on the basketball court and at the gym this summer. He frequently exercised six hours a day! This could be one of the defining years of his life if he walks on to the CU basketball team. Either way, his dedication to the craft is awe-inspiring. He's in the best shape of his life. I'm impressed!

We believe in you, Jack. Happy Birthday, awesome one! 🖤💛

Farewell to the 2023-2024 Ski Season

This year's ski season was delightful! This was largely due to our acquisition of a new condo in the mountains, lots of free time to ski, and some epic powder days with friends. I achieved 30 days of skiing, with 19 being alpine and 11 being cross-country. The season started for me on October 30 when we got enough snow to go cross-country skiing in our backyard.

We didn't make it up to the mountains for downhill skiing until mid-December. That's when we closed on our condo, nicely coinciding with Trish's birthday weekend.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Today is a monumental day in the life of Jack Raible. Not only is today his 19th birthday, but it's also his first day of classes at the University of Colorado. He moved in last week and had a week to settle into his new surroundings.

He's been playing hoops for 1-2 hours a day on our basketball court for the last six months. We recently asked him why he was playing so much, and he mentioned he wanted to play on CU's team before he graduates. I love it when someone dreams big! We'll be rooting for your success, Jack!

The whole family traveled to Boulder yesterday afternoon to celebrate his birthday. Today, both kids sent a picture before their first day of classes began.

We're so proud of you, Jack, and hope you have a wonderful college experience. Happy Birthday, buddy! 🥳

Farewell to the 2022-2023 Ski Season

You can tell your Spring is a whirlwind when you don't have time to write your end-of-ski-season post until July!

My ski season started way back in October, on Halloween at A-Basin, to be precise. It ended with an Okta + Gradle Developer Ski Day on April 13th. I'm proud to say I achieved 39 days of skiing, with 15 being alpine skiing and the rest being cross-country skiing. A lot of the cross-country skiing was done in our backyard, on the neighborhood bridal trails. We got lucky this year because it snowed in early January and stuck around until February. That's rare in our neck of the woods.

The highlight of the ski season was celebrating Trish's 50th birthday at A-Basin. We rented a few spots on the beach, invited a bunch of friends, and had a blast.

The onesies were Trish's idea. 😅 You can buy your own from Tipsy Elves.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Our youngest child turned 18 today. He's embarked on his senior year of high school and has a good group of friends he likes to hang out with. They celebrated his birthday last night at the Kid Cudi concert followed by an after-party with additional friends at the ranch. Trish had fun decorating our downstairs with his friends and surprising him when he arrived home.

Tonight, we celebrated with a family dinner, had lots of laughs, and enjoyed solving a puzzle together for a good hour. Thanks to my sister, Kalin, for sending such a fun gift!

Happy Birthday, Jack! We hope you have a wonderful senior year of high school and make many lasting memories. 😊

Farewell to the 2021-2022 Ski Season

I had a lot of fun this ski season, but I didn't make it to the mountains as much as I thought I would. I bought both the Epic and Ikon passes with high hopes at the beginning of the season. The rest of the family had Ikon. The ski season started for me on Nov 24, 2020 with a backyard cross-country ski. It took me another month until I ventured up to the high country. A-Basin didn't have a whole lot of snow on Dec 23.

I got to ski with the Makofsky family at Copper on New Years Eve.

The next day, Trish and I enjoyed a fresh blanket of snow to ring in the new year. 🎊

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack turns 17 today! He's an ambitious kid these days that's interested in going to a hard engineering school for college. He mentioned this morning that he's going to try to and get into some of the harder ones. If you have suggestions, please leave a comment!

Happy 17th Birthday, Jack! 😀

I think you're going to have a fun year being the solo kid. We look forward to helping you continue to be the awesome person you are.

Farewell to the 2020-21 Ski Season

This ski season was interesting to say the least. Because of COVID-19, most Colorado ski resorts required reservations in order to ski. This wasn't too painful because we did most of our skiing during the week.

We recognized that social distancing might be an issue on weekends, so we rented a condo in Winter Park for the season. This allowed us to ski weekdays while working remotely. We didn't have it the whole season, just a week every month.

The ski season started for me on November 24, 2020, with some backyard cross-country skiing.

I was super pumped when I drove our Syncro Westy to the condo and discovered it fit in the garage! My first day on the slopes was Friday, December 4th.

Happy Birthday, Jack

Yeehaw - today is Jack's 16th birthday! 🎉 He's been driving a lot in the last year and has a driver's license driving test this afternoon. If he passes, he'll be getting his license next week. I feel like it's a big milestone because a driver's license has the notion of freedom, especially when you live out in the country as we do.

Jack is a sophomore this year and started school last week. Both he and Abbie attend in-person classes two days a week. They do school work remotely the other three days. Jack was just starting to blossom last March when he joined the track team, but they shut things down before the season really got started. I hope he'll try it again — I really enjoyed doing track when I was in high school. He's an excellent boater and happily rowed a couple of days on our Desolation Canyon trip last month.

Happy 16th Birthday, Jack!

For some photos of Jack through the years, see my Jack Turns 16 album.