Hiatus - over!

Back in 2014 life was a little busy - a baby, a toddler, a new house, a job, and even an occasional lack of sanity.  With everything going on, this blog was neglected.  Neglect of blogging became a habit and suddenly four years passed.

However, things are more balanced now and we look forward to posting regular updates about the latest happenings.  I also noticed Google has broken many of my old Picasa photo links, so I will be fixing those shortly.  Finally, Google has even updated the blog with HTTPS and GDPR support since we've been on hiatus.  Not only is this blog back, it is now technologically modern!

Fall Update!

Well, we've all had a pretty busy Fall!  In September, the four of us flew to Florida to spend some time (and Claire's third birthday) with Nana and Papa.  We all had a great time and wished we could have stayed for much longer.  Halloween was a blast - Claire and Nora were both Ariel, the Little Mermaid.  Nora was the mermaid and Claire was the princess (and Claire made sure everyone knew, if they asked what she was going to be for Halloween).  Claire trick-or-treated around the neighborhood and really enjoyed herself!  In November we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Bonnie, Gary, and Frona.

We've also been in the process of buying a new house and moving - we nearly bought one house in October but the deal ended up falling through.  We purchased another house on November 26 and are expecting to move in on December 22nd!  More on that in another blog post!

Nora has been a busy girl these days, what with eating lots of different foods, crawling and starting to pull up on furniture. She's even taken a few steps while holding onto the couch, so we might be getting closer to having a walking baby on our hands...look out!!

Also, on December 2nd Claire started preschool at Montessori Garden School - so far she seems to really like it! It's a small school with about 10 kids (all around 3-4 years old), and the teacher has 30+ years of experience in both Montessori teaching & also Montessori teacher instructing. Claire is definitely absorbing a lot and getting to know her fellow classmates - she's excited to go back to school after the Christmas break, so that's a good sign!

We're heading up to Vancouver for Christmas this year, and in addition to the usual suspects, my Aunts Cathy & Barb & my cousin Allison are all making the trek from Manitoba! It should be a great visit, and we'll post about it...soon...!

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas - see you in 2015!

Fall 2014 Update Pictures!
Claire's Third Birthday Pictures!
Claire and Nora Visit Florida Pictures!
Nora Doesn't Want the Chair Video
The Vickerys at Bono's Video
Claire at the Beach Video
Claire at the Beach Part 2 Video
Claire and Zach at Rebounderz Video
Thank You Very Very Much Video
Southern League Champs Video
On the Swings at Palencia Park Video
Claire Decides to Jump Video
Nora in the Pool Video
Claire at Eagle Creek Pool Video
Birthday Presents for Claire Video
Claire and Nora Ride the Carousel Video
Claire on the Roller Slide Video
Queen of the Trampoline Video
Swinging at Peppermint Park Video
JumpTime Enthusiast Video
Nora Crawling Video
Nora Tries the Scooter Video
Leaf Monster Video
Nora Gets the Green Stick Video
Sisters in the Leaves Video
Vickery Family Walk Video
Nora Tapping Blocks Video
I'm a Famous Preschooler Video
Claire in the Box Video
Nora on the Scooter Video
Nora Dinnertime Video
Nora at Little Gym Video

Patio Upgrades

In March we had a patio cover installed by Affordable Patio Covers. In May there was finally enough decent weather to stain it. This month we finally got some patio furniture and a sun shade (thanks Costco!) so now the space is actually usable! We may put up one more shade (for the other side of the patio) but it is nice to now have an outdoor option for dinner and relaxation!

Goggles

On Monday I picked up my first ever pair of glasses. I was actually quite surprised to see how much of a difference they made in my distance vision - time had eroded my concept of clear visibility (especially at night) and it was stunning to suddenly get it back.

Anyway, here is the (eagerly awaited?) picture:

Recent Happenings

On the 20th of February, I left Boise in the morning for a 5 day business trip to Raleigh, the location of my employer's headquarters. It was a very productive trip as we discussed various strategic topics regarding our future product development. On Tuesday a group of us attended a Carolina Hurricanes game, which was great entertainment. The Hurricanes tragically lost to the Rangers in an overtime shootout despite holding a lead late in the 3rd period.


Before leaving town, we took a quick tour of downtown and checked out the North Carolina capitol and environs. It dates from 1840 which makes it far older than the much more impressive looking Idaho State Capitol!


North Carolina Legislative Building


After getting home late Thursday night, I worked Friday and proceeded to attend the Boise Code Camp on Saturday. That was an all-day affair and was a good learning experience despite me not winning any of the raffle prizes.

On Monday we had a patio cover installed, which turned out pretty well. Of course now I have to stain it...


Finally, I went to the eye doctor today for the first time in roughly 15 years. I've noticed my distance vision getting worse and I nearly failed the eye test for my recent driver's license renewal. Needless to say, the prescription was glasses. They will arrive next week, thus ending my glasses free existence.

Recent Happenings

Lately our respective jobs have been really busy so there's been a lot of working going on. We have managed to see a couple of movies, Crazy Heart and Green Zone. We found them both to be very good movies but very different - Crazy Heart was certainly my favorite of the two.

Last week I had some kind of stomach virus and had to stay home on Wednesday. Sadly most of my sick day was spent either in the bathroom or asleep somewhere. Fortunately it had mostly blown over by Thursday and I could resume my normal routine. However it's been a week and I still don't feel quite the same...

Last weekend I spent both days attending the Boise Code Camp as part of my never-ending professional development agenda. While it cost me a weekend, it was definitely worth it. While I was off being an uber-nerd, Katie spent Saturday with some friends watching various Corey Haim movies in memory of the recently departed teen icon. Katie reported that the movies they watched weren't very good which validated my decision to not go!

That's about all from here. Despite some snow today, we're excited about Spring (well, except for the yardwork part...)!

New Years and Other Excitement

We never posted a New Years post so.... Happy 2010 to all 5 (10?) readers! Your devotion to my subpar prose and endless boring trip reports is remarkable and appreciated!

Nothing very exciting has been going on here. My job granted me a five day weekend for New Years and Katie got a "measly" four days. We spent New Years Eve at home and shared a bottle of wine that Katie got from one of her customers at work. That weekend was pretty snowy so we mostly stayed inside and I watched a bunch of college football bowl games. The Humanitarian Bowl was the most memorable as the Idaho Vandals achieved a last-second victory over the Bowling Green Falcons. Somewhere in there we watched the movie Up In The Air, which we both enjoyed. It has lots of corporate black humor which is a bountiful comedy gold mine these days. We also had a nice breakfast with Gary and Bonnie at Addie's on Sunday.

Last weekend we saw Avatar 3D. The visuals definitely lived up to the hype and it was easy to believe the computer-generated planet was real. However the story was pretty formulaic. Overall it was a good movie but I don't consider it the landmark of cinema that some perceive it to be.

Yesterday (Friday) we both attended my company's holiday party... it was held at a faux castle called Castle Gardens. The food (mystery fish, salad, potatoes, veggies, bread) was great and so was the open bar. The facility was modern and open and had a decor heavy on medieval themes - suits of armor, tapestries featuring knights, chalices used as water glasses, etc. Overall it was a great venue for a party with 50-100 people.

Today we ran some errands and had a nice lunch at the Boise Fry Company. I had Red Lady Fries for the first time... they were yummy and comparable in quality to the Yukon Golds which are my reigning favorite. My bison burger and Katie's vegan burger were both great too.

Right now I'm watching the NFL playoffs and the game is super boring. I can also see the Christmas tree staring at me wondering why it has been able to stay up so long. Perhaps that is the next project to undertake?

Boise Sightseeing & Other Happenings..

Happy Halloween everyone!

Last weekend the weather was nice so Katie and I took a little drive a did some sightseeing. Pictures below:
Boise Sightseeing Pictures!

Otherwise, things have been cruising along. My job has been busy with numerous projects, far more than our staff can reasonably tackle right now. The $3.4 billion smart grid stimulus package is expected to make things even more busy. At this point I'm a little worried whether we'll be able to keep up! Also, I've been having some ergonomic issues at work and decided to splurge on a fancy super adjustable office chair. Based on positive experience with the chair at Micron, I chose the Haworth Zody from a local purveyor of office furniture. It cost $600 but I'm confident it will be worth it! When you pay that much for a chair you get to choose the fabric pattern, color, and have a designer vet your choices. Sadly it won't be under my bum for another three weeks or so.

Katie's job has also been keeping her busy, but thankfully there haven't been any working Saturdays with her new position.

As I type we just got our first trick-or-treaters. Last year we only got 20 or so. Next weekend we're off to Texas for a mini-vacation to visit the Vickery family out there!

Updates from the 208

Things are going pretty well with us. We've seen a number of movies in the past few weeks, including The Hangover, Public Enemies, Up, Funny People, and GI Joe. Public Enemies was probably the best of the bunch and GI Joe was probably the worst. Although the exoskeleton suits they wear in GI Joe are pretty cool. That's easily the most theater visits for us in one month ever!

Last weekend we watched GI Joe Friday night then proceeded to attend the Boise Beer Fest at Ann Morrison Park on Saturday. The festival was a great idea but it was very crowded... I'm thinking they got more attendees than they were expecting. For $20 you got six 12oz beers that you had to wait in line for... not the best deal ever but probably not the worst either. Katie got a really good huckleberry beer from Laughing Dog that was probably the best of show (at least that we tasted).

Katie's work is going pretty well overall. She likes her current job much more than the previous one, although there have been some rough patches as her department has taken over from the previous team in Los Angeles. My work is going well although it has been extremely busy - I've worked the past two Saturdays just to try to maintain adequate progress on all of my projects. A week ago we had a customer demo that required a lot of last minute work... fortunately it all came together and the customer was pleased. We're still waiting for them to show us the money though!

Wednesday is Katie and I's anniversary. It's hard to believe we're already at the five year mark! Since we both have to work (lack of time off) we'll probably just go out for a nice dinner somewhere.

Friday afternoon we leave for our long awaited summer camping trip. We plan on spending Friday night in Bonners Ferry before driving the rest of the way to Nakusp, BC, where we will spend the next five nights. We will finish our trip in Vancouver before heading home. Last year we needed the fleece jackets at night... hopefully it's not quite so cold this year!

Long Weekend Recap

We had a nice, relaxing, and uneventful Memorial Day weekend. Friday night we got some grub at Rudy's before heading to the movie theater to watch Terminator: Salvation. We both enjoyed the movie - it was good with great action scenes, but the story and overall vibe are definitely not up to the standard of T2 which in my opinion is the best action movie ever made. Of course I like movies about quasi-sentient robots since they provoke metaphysical questions about humanity and possible future directions of human existence. But I digress...

Saturday we mostly ran errands; in particular we stopped at MacLife so I could look at the Macs since I suspect that might be my next computer purchase. It'll essentially be a choice between an iMac or a Wintel machine running Windows 7 (once that comes out). But it's good to have choices, right? Katie also got a haircut which she was happy with!

Sunday we had breakfast with Gary and Bonnie at Moon's Kitchen Cafe. I had the breakfast combo which included one of the biggest pancakes I've ever eaten (and I didn't even finish). Afterwards we did some grocery shopping too - another action-packed day!

Nothing too exciting occurred on Monday... mostly things like TiVo watching, reading, house cleaning, and mowing. Of course Tuesday was back to work but fortunately for only four days!

Updates

Other than the previously blogged hikes, there hasn't been too much going on with us. We've seen movies for three straight weeks: State of Play, Fast & Furious, and Star Trek. We both enjoyed all of them - personally I found Star Trek the best and Fast & Furious the least memorable. Maybe we'll go see Wolverine this week?

I did start tweeting last week. It is arguably pointless but anyone that wants to know minute details of our lives can check that out.

Also, the Shepherds in Vancouver are fundraising for the Relay for Life in memory of Ian. Their team name is Flock of Sheep. Donations are of course welcome!

Updates

Last Tuesday, I drove back up to Vancouver to attend Ian's memorial service. Driving conditions were good and I traveled the 643 miles in approximately 10 hours and 35 minutes, a new record. The only real highlight of this trip was lunch at the Fatburger in Issaquah.

The service on Wednesday was very well done and concluded with a bagpiper playing 'Amazing Grace'. Approximately 330 people attended the service and the reception hall was completely filled with people. I got to meet many new members of the extended family, many of whom had been waiting a long time to meet Katie's husband! How many names I remember is of course questionable...

After dinner with the family on Wednesday we got up early Thursday to drive home. This drive was also uneventful and only took 10 hours and 50 minutes. Friday was back to work.. of course we were both ready for the weekend before we even showed up!

Saturday I decided it was time to mow the yard for the first time this year; always a bittersweet moment since it heralds the beginning of warm weather but also the beginning of a chore that will be with me until October or so. The weather has finally gotten warm which is most appreciated since the Spring weather up until recently has been lacking in that department. Sometime soon we will see about a patio cover and perhaps do a little rework of our sad looking flower beds. Saturday night we ate dinner with Gary and Bonnie at the Ruby River Steak House. I had a buffalo burger which was good and the 25oz Sam Adams Summer Ale really hit the spot!

Sunday I managed to get out for my first Spring hike (the subject of a future blog post). Other than that, we had a quiet day. Katie did make yummy pork chops for dinner!

Not much is planned for this week. I've set a goal to bike to work at least once sometime this week; we'll see if it actually happens!

Hockey Game

As the lack of recent blog posts attest, there hasn't been much going on with us. Yesterday we decided to go to an Idaho Steelheads hockey game since their season is almost over and we haven't been to one in two years. We ended up with second row seats and got a good view of the Steelheads defeating the Ontario Reign 3-0. The Steelheads are indeed wearing pink jerseys in the picture; this was part of a fundraiser for breast cancer treatment at the St. Luke's Tumor Institute. Before the game we had dinner at the Bitter Creek Ale House and of course I had to get a couple of beers, this time the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout and the Sockeye Hell Diver. At the game I had a Long Hammer IPA which is surprisingly good for an arena offering.

Over the past month we've pretty much been working in between weekends. My job status is pretty much unchanged but Katie has been moved further into the world of outsourcing, which she isn't very fond of. We've watched a couple of movies recently, including The International and Watchmen. The International was a good action/thriller and Watchmen was entertaining despite being surprisingly graphic.

This weekend I will be attending the Boise Code Camp for a little bit of professional development. We might also check out the Idaho Fry Company which is opening this weekend. Maybe it will be comparable to Belgian Fries in Vancouver?