Jetted down to San Diego last Wednesday to meet Matt and Justin Reimer and families.  Since I’m too smart to fly and Matt lives in Wa., the three hour drive was about as painless as I could get to being able to see him.  Justin isn’t a whole closer being in Bend, Or. so I got a true twofer.  Had never met Justin’s family before so that was a bonus.  Not that I had any doubt but his wife (Tamara) was just nice as could be.  It took me and the kids all of 2 minutes to feel perfectly comfortable while invading their space.  Between my kids and the Reimers’ (and a future Reimer-in-law) we had ten little ones roaming and wreaking havoc.  They all had their unique personalities of course but it seemed like they all had a similar disposition which made things very nice.  And I left with a new t-shirt which basically turns me into a free billboard for The Elisha Foundation. Wore it proudly yesterday.  6.5 hours with the Reimers, 6.5 hours in the car.  Gracie and Ben racked up credits for being totally awesome while stuck in the rolling can all that time.

Small neighborhood congregation yesterday.  Darin’s dog was the first to arrive, followed by Darin himself 20 mins later.  Not sure Jake got permission before heading up.  Marc, Matt, Barb, her sister Linda, Jack and Misty and of course old friend Chris all hung out for a bit.  Missed having Ely but betting NJ is seeing better weather.  We ended up with the Q’s over for a campout in the backyard.  Throwing that stupid new tent in the trash.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great tent once it has been assembled but it keeps defeating me and I’ll not have a tent defeating me.  Some folks would wrestle back control but I rule with an iron fist and if the darn tent won’t submit, it will suffer the consequences.  Actually, I think neighbor Matt is going to take it.  Having mixed feelings about it because he’ll take it camping with us all the time and have it up in 5 minutes and then that bloody tent will have a grubby little smirk on its face the entire weekend and I don’t know if I’m willing to put up with that.  I’m afraid I’d set it on fire in a fit of rage and I’m not sure I’d check to make sure it was empty.  All I’m saying is, it’s risky business giving up and letting Matt try his hand at it.  It’s settled then.  Screw that tent and screw Matt, it’s going to a landfill to think for a while about how it has treated me.

Ugly power outage yesterday too at our colo center.  All boxes abruptly lost power — So much for triple redundant power.  Not our colo provider’s fault… appears to have been an issue with the building… they’re the ones who manage the “redundant” power.  Turkeys.

Enjoying my iPhone4.  Not having the dropped calls or signal issues as reported by so many but then again, I rarely use it as a phone.  Only complaint is the battery life.  If I leave 3G on and don’t use the phone at all the battery dies in less than a day.  I’m in a very weak spot so guessing it is constantly searching for signal.  Turn off 3G and all is cool.  And of course, if I’m in a good coverage area the battery seems to do fine even with 3G turned on.  Didn’t have that issue with my 3G so really hoping they can address the issue via software at some point.

Doing some work for old pal Scott.  I feel 10 years younger.

Spending some in-between time working on DemoGirl — It has been in long need of some attention.  Should be re-launching it next week, hoping to keep Molly and Mo busy.

Hair is reaching ridiculousness in terms of length.  After all, I’m 39 years old and should have a well groomed look.  If you saw me in the parking lot you’d assume that I’m heading to a car with Metallica stenciled on the back window, a small lift kit, self-installed tinted windows and custom (personally installed of course) stereo that prefers loud static-filled “music”.  For now this rocker will keep rocking but getting close to pulling out the shaver.

Took the kids to a Dodgers game last week.  Left Field Pavilion is a dangerous place to wear a Cubs hat, unless the Dodgers are winning (thankfully we were this time).  Me and Grace wore GB Packers caps and for some reason there’s a bit of universal respect that keeps us safe, even while surrounded by Raiders and Chargers fans.  Yes, I realize we’re talking baseball and I’m referencing football but I know these fans.  Met some folks from Wisconsin a few rows back.  They were wearing Brewers shirts.  Very nice people and obvious Packer Backers.  I don’t even care for baseball too much but I love the social aspect of being at the game.  Oh, made the mistake of having my trusty pocket knife on me when I went through the gate.  It was either the 15 mile hike back to the car with the kids or toss it in the trash.  Sorry to see you go faithful assistant!  Say hi to the tent for me.

Reading a book that is not purely tech or documentation for the first time in a long time.  I like the book (The Father Connection by Josh McDowell) but I hate reading.  I really hate reading.  Always wondered why folks do it willingly and often.  Screw them.  They probably don’t even watch football.

Had our Nephew (Chris) and Kerri’s sister (Kathy) over for a while.  We did more in the last two weeks than we did all last summer.  Many days at the pool, fake sky diving, go-cart racing, golf, baseball game, movies and… I’m sure there was a crapload more but I can’t recall.  See, this is why I’m writing this junk down.

Abby got braces (!!!!!) and she loves them.  Chances are she’ll need them again… she still has “baby teeth” and this installation is to make room for the future.  

Kerri and I passed the 10 year mark as far as the state is concerned, 12 in total, if you leave out high school.

That ought to do it for now.  Remember (hah!), this is for me to read in the future.  You’re welcome to read it but comments about splelling or grammatical, errors,are, n0t; welcome.