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The Flood: Helping a friend.

Brad — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:33:26 +0000

This past Sunday I saw first-hand what the floods have done to portions of the Atlanta suburban areas as I answered a call for assistance from some friends of mine whom had family affected by the flooding. I ventured into Austell, about 6 miles from my home and right into the flood zone. The waters had since receeded, however, you could tell where the water level was just by the brown coating on the trees. I arrived to the house to find a pair of dumpsters and a whole lot of volunteers working their collective butts off to get this place gutted and cleaned up. When I arrived I was put to work cleaning up some insulation and other related things, dumping them into the dumpster. The day rolled on, and throughout the day other people stopped by with food for the workers, and Red Cross vehicles would pass by once in a while. Thankfully the weather was sunny, if a little hot, but it’s better than the downpour of rain the day before.

You never really know how a natural disaster can affect someone until you see first-hand what happens. I’ve seen some devistation in my time due to my involvement with the local fire department back in Pennsylvania, but nothing to this level. I’m just happy I could help out. If you get the chance to help someone out, I say take it. You might get sore from the work, but it will make you feel better knowing you’re helping out someone in need.

Happy Birthday and more

Brad — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:59:51 +0000

First of all, happy birthday goes out to my lovely wife who’s turning 21 again for the forth time. 25′s not so bad, it’s once you hit the 30s, like me :P

This weekend has been pretty ok, nothing earth shattering, just a usual weekend. We had a decent lunch for her birthday and spent the afternoon together. This evening she’s heading out and I’ll be hanging out here. I think tonight I’m finally going to get to work on a project to make work life easier. My coworkers should be thankful I’m such a computer geek.

Fatherhood: Year one down, and I'm still here!

Brad — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:57:14 +0000

Emma turned a year old on September 13th, and it’s been quite the year. I have to admit I kinda miss her being so small when she was younger. She would fall asleep on my chest, and for a while, that’s the only way we could get her to go to bed. She’s outgrown that stage, and now she’s on the verge of walking. Our lives will never be the same again. Being the proud daddy that I am, I present to you my baby girl, at 11 months:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qwndSicQ8E&hl=en&fs=1]

The next year should be interesting. I can’t wait.

The "Hey, we're in PA" Trip Writeup

Brad — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:31:06 +0000

I was going to go into a long, detailed retelling of the trip, but opted to go the short and sweet route. The drive to PA was uneventful, save for the heavy-duty rain we hit while leaving Georgia. We got into town around 1:30 or so, and decided to go see my family. The week was filled with a couple of events, notably lunch and subsequently dinner with old co-workers, and Sunday was Emma’s first birthday. She made out with a lot of stuff, and of course ended up wearing a lot of icing (although I think wore almost as much). Emma seemed to be OK with everything as long as mommy and daddy were within reach. She still has some ‘stranger’ problems, but I think with more exposure and some time, she’ll outgrow them. The family absolutely loves our daughter, and it’s great. She’s officially a year old now, and I still can’t believe it. Time flies, as they say.

We also took in the PA Ren Faire, and unfortunately it was a hot and humid day. That made things pretty miserable, and the price of admission didn’t help either. All told, we dropped around 80 to 100 bucks between the gate fee and food. I think they’re going to price themselves out of business, as I didn’t really feel that it was worth the 28.95 per adult we paid to get in. *sighs* I was pretty let-down, as I was excited for it and had told Beth good things about it. It’s not to say that the day was a total waste, though.

The family was also happy to see us as well. I’m glad my family has taken so well to Bethany. She really does make me happy and they see that. There was some family-related drama while we were up which took away a bit of our enjoyment, but all in all it was a decent visit. I did realize that Georgia has been solidified in my mind as home. PA has changed a lot since I was last up, and some of the changes make me sad. The trip back was uneventful as well. Emma had a new car seat to adjust to, so she was a little cranky about that, but once we got home, things reverted back to normal.

Lack of Inspiration

Brad — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:47:55 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, and I can’t really say I’ve been inspired to. In a little less than a week, I’ll be a father of a one year old. So far, so good. She’s going to be a smart girl, and she’s really close to walking. I expect that to happen any day now. Next week at this time, we should be pulling into PA. I’m excited, and I know Beth is just as excited, if not more so. This will be the first time most of the family gets to meet Emma, so that should be fun. Mix in a trip to the Ren Faire and meeting up with various old friends and it spells for a great escape from the usual Georgia things going on.

Nothing really of note on the geek front, sadly. I’ve just been in a bit of a slump. I’ve been seeing a therapist for some grief / depression issues and so far it seems to be helping. Combine that with the best wife on the planet and a loving daughter, and you have a combination that will help me overcome this. It took a while, and some nudging, from loved ones to get me into therapy, but I think it’s going to make a big difference and help me deal with things.

At any rate, I hope to get my geek groove back at some point. Lately I’ve been in a bit of a slump, as I mentioned, but I’m pretty sure it will be short-lived.

Atlanta Year 1: Complete!

Brad — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:24:15 +0000

So it’s been a year now since I’ve been in the Atlanta area, and it’s been a good year. I’m doing well at work, even if I deal with complete idiots at times. My love life is fantastic and complete, as Bethany and I are now husband and wife. Fatherhood has been great to me, even if it’s been a little stressful at times. All in all, the decision to move was the best decision I’ve ever made. I have some minor social issues I have to work out personally, but otherwise I’m just fine.

At work, gone are the days of me muddling through COBOL and Perl code on Windows. These days, I’m supporting a major application within the company on UNIX/Linux for various clients worldwide. There’s something interesting about dealing with customers from another section of the world, and this job is definitely diverse in that fact. It’s also diverse because I’m not dealing with the same things day in and day out. Sure, I may be working on a particular issue for a few days, but once it’s done I’m on to something completely different. I hardly ever do development, except for maintaining our internal web applications, and I miss it. Not COBOL/Perl, but coding in general. Guess I need to find myself a side project to play with.

Would I do this all over again? Yes, I would in a heartbeat. I’m a southern convert, even if I still have some Yankee blood in me.

Life is Good

Brad — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:16:01 +0000

Life has been going rather well. I’m in a happy place, with a loving family and a great job. While I still have my moments, for the most part I’m fine. I did the taxes this weekend and I’ve found that we’re going to be able to make one of my 2008 goals already, which was to eliminate a loan and credit card debt. This really makes me happy, because it’s the end of a loan and also the end of a chapter, so to speak. In addition to that debt, we’ll also be reducing a couple of others.

On the geek front, not much new to report right now. I’m going to be working on revisiting MythTV again. Tivo is 12.95/month. MythTV’s TV listing subscription is 20.00 per year. It’s easy to see which one wins there, but there’s also the fact that I can archive some episodes if I’d like. My computers are back to running Arch again. I like Ubuntu, I really do, but Arch just feels like a better fit for me. I like being able to build a machine to the exact specs I need. As a bonus on the laptop, I didn’t need to build ndiswrapper or ALSA by hand as the Arch versions were up to date.

Winter and other things

Brad — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:01:16 +0000

Here we are, a little less than two weeks until Christmas, and you know what I was wearing last weekend? Shorts and a t-shirt. It’s my first winter in the south, and while it has been rather chilly most of the time, there have been no ice or snow storms, and I think the temperature only got below freezing once or twice overnight so far. I just love it down here.

Not much new to report elsewhere, really. Work is going well. I got a bonus this year along with a great annual review. Family life is excellent, and in general I’m doing fine. I’ve had my moments thinking about my father (welcome to the holidays), but that’s to be expected. This weekend we’re getting the Christmas tree and getting the apartment all Christmas-like. I’m sure I’ll be taking pictures at some point.

On the geek side of things, not much going on. I’m still enjoying Arch Linux, and I’m still playing around with Python a bit, but I haven’t found a project to spark my interest much. I have been working on a couple of things for work, though.

2007 In Review

Brad — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 03:43:13 +0000

Sure, there’s a couple of weeks left in 2007, but I figured I’d look back at what happened to me over the course of the year:

Moving to Georgia
The first major happening in 2007 was my move to Georgia. I accepted a position in the Atlanta office of the company I worked for, packed up the truck and headed down. The bonus to that was I was so much closer to Bethany. I also shifted positions at work, which I mentioned, and it was a welcome change. No more Windows, now I’m working on various Unix/Linux platforms.

Beth moves in
A couple of weeks after I got settled into the new apartment, Beth moved up with me, thus ending my few years of living alone. It’s so nice to come home and have someone to greet you when you walk in the door.

Goodbye truck, hello Magnum
Due to a number of factors, my truck was no longer a viable transportation option, so I ended up trading it in on a 2006 leftover Dodge Magnum. It’s been a wonderful car so far, and it actually fits me, which is a feat in and of itself.

Emmalynn is born
I became a daddy this year to a beautiful baby girl. It’s been nothing but wonderful so far, and I’m doing well in the role of father. All sorts of new experiences due to this.

As you can see, a couple of defining moments in my life this year. The two biggest are my move and the birth of my daughter. Looking back, I wouldn’t change anything for the world. It’ll be a long time before I move from the South back north, especially since they’re experiencing the lovely winter weather up there, while I’m still taking garbage out in shorts and a t-shirt :)

Thanksgiving Aftermath

Brad — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:07:17 +0000

This year, Thanksgiving was great. Beth cooked, and my mom and sister made the trek down from Pennsylvania. They came bearing gifts, too. Emma got some clothes and a stuffed animal, Beth got some earrings, I got my Yuengling beer (not available down here in Georgia, a shame). The meal itself was wonderful, and I made it through with no problems. Just icing on the cake for me, seeing my family, my love and our family coming together.