Friday
Well, I'm taking an early Friday. Why? I've been working on interface issues in our web application. Not my strongest suit, but I've been informed that I do have some skills. I guess I like tech stuff just a little more than I realized. Something will certainly click and I have figured out how to recreate a big chunk of our older, but cooler SMART 7 app on the Web (that openbook idea rocks)!!!
Been a while since I put something up here, so heres some info. Dawn and I took Joey to Wildlife Images (near Grants Pass) so he could see some animals. Of course, we got into some trouble with Joey's mom for not telling her about this place when they were taking him to Wildlife Safari (up by Roseburg). Anyway, in the time honored tradition - here is a picture (or two):
Yes, Dawn is beginning to show. I know that someone asked me about that the other day so here is the answer. We all had a lot of fun and Joey kept asking me if I was lost. I'm thinking that this was the result of some previous experience with his father (HA!).
On other news, I'm dying to overclock and water cool (older article) something around here. I'd love to know what has spawned this, but it is definately one of the reasons I don't like laptops as much as other people. I can't tweak them.
Distributed Computing
OK, so any nerdy folks have already heard of Seti@home and distributed.net. Basically, the first one is looking for extra-terrestrial life and the second one is looking to crack some big nasty encryption using brute force. They use the spare CPU cycles on your computer to do this work. Kind of a cool idea, I think.
Well, now there is a newer-ish one that is doing stuff for the medical community. Named United Devices they have some of the expertise that was involved in the seti and distributed.net projects I mentioned above. However, they are working on things like cures for cancer and soon they will begin working on diabetes research. Anyway, the point is that if you want a cool screen saver that will do something useful with your computer, download this one.
Closet, gestational diabetes, and the washing machine
The closet caved in again!?!?! This time we split it in half so there is a big shelf structure in the middle for about 2'. Then we have two 4 foot sections of wardrobe shelving. Hopefully, this will work for the near future.
Speaking of that I guess the next big doctor appointment will include the gestational diabetes testing (some nasty orange drink and then hang out for a hour or so). This will probably be the first and only appointment that I will miss. We also have some classes that will be starting pretty soon (actually the beginning of next month I think we have a parenting class!!!).
The other lovely thing that happened recently is the washing machine decided to quit. We have had the repair guy out and now we are just waiting for a part. Apparently the door lock assembly is going to be replaced. Action Appliance quoted me $106 (and some change) which I figured ain't half bad given that the part costs about $58 at sears.com (and no one has one in stock). Of course, the other thing to remember is that the manufacture date on the machine is 12/97 (it is only four and a half years old!!!).
Action Appliance Service (at 773-9759 or 474-0866) -
Now here is a place that is really really backward. On the 13th we called them and asked to have someone come out and look at the washer. They were busy so we didn't see anyone until the 17th (the next Monday, no big deal). Then he plays with it for a while, tells us he needs a part and that it'll be running by the end of the week (the 21st would be the Friday of that week).
We don't hear anything until we call them on Friday morning. They page the service guy and he calls back to let us know that "oops" the part won't be in until Monday. So we call them back and schedule an appointment for Monday sometime between 1 and 4.
Monday at 4:15pm, Dawn calls. The lady tells her the appointment was for between 1 and 5. Sometime after 5 someone calls to tell us it won't be in until tomorrow. Called and scheduled an appointment for the next day.
Tuesday the phone service calls us after 5 to tell us there isn't a part and that we can have an appointment for Wednesday.
Wednesday some guy calls and tells us that the repair man is sick today and that he is going out of town Thursday and Friday, but that he is in the field right now (I thought he was sick). Blah blah blah. I call their phone number and the lady on the phone tells me the part isn't in. Someone should really decide what story they want to tell.
I personally won't every call them again, just so you all know. :)
Update!!!
They actually aren't horrendous. I was just PMS-ing that day. The repair guy is actually a pretty nice guy and they did try to work with me, the response time could use some work (I can't argue that), but all in all they are OK. I was just frustrated with the lack of communication, which I'm sure is due in part to it being a busy time of year (they also fix air conditioners and being late June you can see where that could be an issue).
Less than 90 days
There are less than 90 days until Aiden is born (I'm assuming we decide to spell his name that way - we shall see).