Randall's Rather Random Ramblings

Our Baby

2009-03-13T20:25:00.002+07:00

As many of you know, Ryanna and I are going to have a baby. We just had the 20 week sonogram. Do you want to know if it is a boy or a girl? Watch the sonogram and find out!

Year in Review

2008-01-08T03:50:00.000+07:00

I haven't posted much in the previous year, so I thought I would do a wrapup to try and catch up a bit.

As many of you know, I got married to Ryanna Urban on May 26th. We had a wonderful honeymoon in Victoria, BC Canada and arrived back in Dallas to move into our apartment and begin our CARES program there. The last 7 months have been wonderful being married to such an amazing woman. Each day gets better and better.

In July we went up to Colorado to go to a friend's wedding. The groom was a roommate of mine when I was in Indonesia and the bride is the sister of Stephen, who I went on the long trip through Asia with.

Next I went to a training session at Sage software in Scottsdale, AZ for a week and Ryanna was able to join me for the last half of that trip.

In December we went up to Portland and Seattle for Stephen's wedding (yes, the same Stephen!) and to meet more of Ryanna's family since they are in that area. We had a great time.

The business is going well. We've got lots of consulting jobs going on right now that are keeping food on the table and we are working on putting out some products soon that I will fill you in on soon.

Our power went out at 11:55PM on December 31st so we had a new year celebration by candle light. We could see lots of different firework displays from our apartment which was good because it was really cold outside.

Now I'm enjoying following the presidential elections (finally I'm enjoying it! They started WAY too early). I have no idea who I am going to vote for yet but I'm enjoying the intrigue.
I'll be posting more now so stay tuned for more.

Took a bit longer than expected

2007-12-03T06:55:00.001+07:00

So I planned on moving my blog a long time ago and did. But the new server wasn't great and I never got the posting working again. My life has gotten a little busy since then so I haven't bothered to fix it or post anything recently.

We've got a new server at work so I've moved my website over to the new server and set it up correctly this time. Hopefully I can start posting again.

Site Moved

2007-05-03T07:32:00.000+07:00

I've moved my site to a new host. A huge thanks to the ICI guys for hosting my site for the last few years. I plan on updating it a bit to remove and add links and stuff that is no longer valid.

If you can read this then I have succeeded.

Sailing Away

2007-04-30T09:27:00.000+07:00

I finally gave away my sailboat today. I've had it since around my sophomore year of high school which would be well over ten years ago now. I decided that it wasn't worth keeping around any more since I probably wouldn't be using it all that much for a long time. It was also in pretty rough shape. I posted it on Craigslist and within about 15 minutes I got 3 responses and then pulled the notice. The first guy decided not to get it and the second guy came and picked it up. He is in a family that likes to sail catamarans and was very happy to get it. I hope it works out for him. Either way, it is no longer my responsibility. Oh, my dad is also very happy that the space beside the house is now free. What does he plan on doing with it now? Why putting a new fishing boat there.

What's Next

2007-04-23T09:41:00.000+07:00

Some of you may be wondering what's next. I could have hit the pavement and gone looking for a job or just done an Office Space. Instead a couple of guys from work and I are starting a company to do something very similar to what Professional Edge did. It is exciting yet a little nerve wracking to go out on your own and see if you can survive.

We are just starting to form plans but hopefully we can formulate a plan to make enough money to support our families and maybe even thrive a little. So far it is looking good and we should be off the ground in a couple weeks or so.

Right now, as a pet project I'm creating a home spun CRM solution that runs on ASP.NET. The idea came to help my future sister in law and her husband with their home business. It is morphing into something more than I thought it would be but that is probably a good thing. Hopefully it will turn out good. When I have a good working copy, I'll try and post a demo to the web. It will take a while though. It's pretty complicated.

New Post!

2007-04-19T08:34:00.000+07:00

My appologies for not posting more often. I've been a little busy working and getting ready for the wedding. There is good news though! I will probably have more time to blog now. Professional Edge, the company that I have been working for is folding. That means I have lots of free time I wasn't expecting and not a lot of money that I was.

If you know of anyone who needs a highly motivated, honest and hard working employee, let me know.

Update on the squeak

2007-04-07T21:03:00.000+07:00

If any of you actually cared, I've discovered that when I turn the fan off, the squeaking stops. So either I've got a squeaky fan or mice that only like to squeak when the fan is turned on. At least I'm narrowing it down.

An Inconvenient Weather for an Inconvenient Theory

2007-04-07T20:46:00.000+07:00

In light of the ongoing Global Warming debate, the weather this winter has been very interesting. I can't attest to the global climate but here in Dallas it has been a rather cold winter. In fact, we got snow about three times and got below freezing and stayed cold temperatures much more than usual. In fact, this Easter weekend we are on track to set record lows.

I guess the part that confuses me most is the supposed "proof" that is being talked about. When the temperature goes up, a case could be made but when the weather goes down, they say that erratic weather is also caused by global warming. So no matter what happens to the weather, it is proof of global warming. Sounds fishy to me.

In fact, when I started getting skeptical about global warming was in 9th grade when I saw in English class on the cover of Time Magazine that "Sever Winter Storms (in New York) Proof of Global Warming". I stopped and thought, so because it is so cold, it proves the earth is warming. Something isn't quite right about it.

There are some real alarmists out there but the facts of the matter are that we only have really accurate weather information for the last 125 years or so. There have been periods in recent history when the earth has been warmer, and cooler than it is now and that was not related to human activity. Whether the world is actually warming or not is an interesting question and can been proven with simple graphs of global temperatures. Whether or not it will continue to rise and if it it caused by humans is extremely difficult, if not impossible to predict or know.

Bottom line is that I don't want this theory to inconvenience me until it is actually provable. Until then, it should be kept in the "theory" department. Oh, and just because some scientists get the backing of the UN doesn't mean that it is proven, just that a lot of people who would benefit from the proposed "fixes" think it would be a great idea.

Squeak Squeak

2007-04-01T00:20:00.000+07:00

I've occasionally been hearing some squeaks coming from my room. Since it is in the garage, it isn't hard for different animals to climb under the garage door and through the door if I leave it open. I'm wondering if I have some cute little mice living somewhere in the room now. It is either that or a squeaky fan. I haven't figured out which yet. If it is mice, it will be nice to get used to having others in the room before I get married.

Strange Weather

2007-04-01T00:17:00.000+07:00

Today outside is some really weird weather. The sky is a strange light blue and there is this big yellow ball in the sky that it hurts to look at. I vaguely remember something like it called the "sun" from a long time ago but I guess I have forgotten what it looks like. The weather has been so nicely grey and stormy for a long time, I mean, what do you do on a day like today? Go outside?

2 Months to go

2007-03-28T07:53:00.000+07:00

Less than two months until Ryanna and I are married. For all of you who have married, I bet you remember what it was like at this time. It will be nice when we are married have a place of our own (not in my parents house any more, not that it is that bad). Hopefully we will know soon where we will be living. I'll let you know when I know.

Its been a while

2007-03-28T07:48:00.000+07:00

I guess it has been quite a while since I last posted. Thats what happens when you are engaged and getting used to a new job. On a side note, I'm tired of Dallas traffic. It isn't usually bad where I have to drive but when I go on client site, it can get really bad. Yesterday I spent almost four hours in traffic. Tomorrow I'm going even further but I'm going to leave very early to try and miss the traffic. Oh, and I'm buying a toll tag so I can use the toll road to speed things up.

Ringtones and Amazing Grace

2007-02-25T11:43:00.000+07:00

When I got my new phone in the US, I wanted a ringtone that was funny and not too annoying if it went off in a place it wasn't supposed to. I settled on a cow mooing and I really like it. I had an ongoing joke with Ryanna when we are at the movies that if my phone did go off, people would just think the mooing was some cows in the movies.

So we went to see Amazing Grace today which was a phenomenal movie, one of the best I have seen in a really long time. In the middle of it, I heard my phone go off. Then I realized that my phone wasn't vibrating. My next thought was that someone else had downloaded the same sound off the internet and put it on their phone and what an incredible coincidence that was. Then I realized that there were some cows in the background of the movie that were mooing.

Hello?... Not Interested. Click

2007-02-14T06:32:00.000+07:00

Hasn't it been nice having a cell phone and not getting telemarketing calls on it like your home phone? Well things are about to change. That's right. In one weeks time, the list of cell phones will be made public and as a result telemarketers will be able to target your cell phone. And the best part about it is that you will still be charged for the call!

Luckily, there is something you can do about it. Go to www.donotcall.gov or call 888-382-1222 to register your cell phone or home phone for the national do not call registry. This will stop telemarketers from calling your phone for five years. Unfortunately it doesn't stop charities or pollsters but should put a dent on most of the marketers.

UPDATE***
Turns out I jumped the gun. The FTC still does not allow automated dialing to cell phones even if they open up the list of numbers. Most marketing agencies don't call if they can't use automatic dialers. Still, it would be wise to sign up all of your numbers to keep as many marketers out as possible.

Potato Rolls

2007-02-07T00:44:00.000+07:00

Last night my mom made potato rolls for dinner and they were delicious. While we were eating them, I asked why she made them and she said, "Because we had some leftover mashed potatoes and it makes the rolls light and fluffy."

I replied, "I thought the potatoes make the rolls thick and heavy."

And my dad said, "I thought the potatoes are added for flavor."

So why are potatoes added to potato rolls? I guess we'll never know. They sure were good though.

New Professional edge website and 500!

2007-01-29T22:37:00.000+07:00

Professional edge, the company that I work for has a new website. It is much prettier than the old one and has lots of good information. Check it out at www.professionaledge.com.

By the way this is my 500th post on this blog. Thats pretty incredible if you think about it. That is 931 days ago so I'm averaging just over a post every two days. I hope that is enough for everyone.

Pans Amazing Labyrinth of Grace

2007-01-29T11:21:00.000+07:00

Okay, the title is a mix of a couple of movies and I'll explain why, kind of. Saturday morning I started to read a book called "A Practical View of Christianity" by William Wilberforce, written in 1797. Yes, that is 1797 not 1997. Never heard of Wilberforce? Neither had I until started reading the book. I read through the introduction by Charles Colson. It told the story of Wilburforce and how he worked in Parliament in England to end Slavery at the end of the 18th century. What is fascinating about him is that he tried for about 10 years to get it done but got nowhere because of the political power of the slave trading companies. He decided the way to fix the problem was to improve people's morality through Christianity first and then their outrage would force the politicians to abolish slavery. And it worked. He wrote the book "A Practical View of Christianity" which basically explains how the "Cultural Christianity" of the day was different than "Real Christianity" and encouraged people to be convicted about what was true and not. He realized that the way to change society was through its morals, instead of trying to beat the politicians.

So I started reading that in the morning and went out to see Pan's Labyrinth with Ryanna in the evening. I had heard that it was good and wanted to check it out. The first preview that showed up was about a guy at the end of the 18th century in Parliament who was trying to abolish slavery through convicting the populace of England. I thought, hmm, I think I've heard this story before. And sure enough, it was about William Wilberforce. The movie's title is "Amazing Grace" because Wilberforce was a friend of John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace. It comes out February 23rd and I'm really excited to see it.

So... Pan's Labyrinth. Turns out it is a Spanish movie subtitled in English but that doesn't bother me since I lived over seas for so many years. The movie is really beautiful and strange in that it is a mix of the attempt to suppress the anti Franco rebellion in Spain in 1944 and a fairytale. It actually works though and Ryanna and I really enjoyed the movie.

Pop Up Messages on Windows

2007-01-27T03:52:00.000+07:00

Now that I've had to move back to Windows for my work environment, I've had to get used to it again. One of the things that has really struck me is how often things pop up demanding my attention. Networking is constantly telling me something, as is MSN Messenger which I don't use but haven't gotten around to turning off. Security updates and settings are constantly popping up as well.

One of the things on the new Windows Vista is that it pops things up WAY more often. Practically any time you run something it asks if you really want to run it. Change a setting, are you sure? I really feel Apple got it right on their system. It asks me when I know it should but not every time. The reason why the Windows approach is bad is that people get used to clicking "OK" every time so when they shouldn't, they don't know any better.

Hopefully there is a way to turn off all this incessant second guessing by the operating system.

Weather

2007-01-20T07:42:00.000+07:00

It snowed here in Texas a few days ago. Hard to believe, huh? The weather was actually below freezing for a few days and there was lots of ice on the roads which caused a lot of accidents. Of course this is an excuse for me to put a picture of my car on the internet.

First look at Windows Vista

2007-01-20T07:33:00.000+07:00

I went in to work today and in the mail was our new version of Windows Vista for development and trial. I was installing VMWare so I fired up Vista in it to try it out.

The first thing I noticed is that it is a lot shinier. Notice I didn't say prettier, I said shinier. Everything looks like they put a lot of time into trying to make it look better but it turns out looking like a bad winamp skin. I mean, black for a the taskbar color? And whats up with the goofy shaped start button.

Overall I wasn't impressed. I bet that part of my impression was due to the fact that I've been using Mac OS X for the last year and a half. I didn't really see anything great about it except that some stuff was simplified and streamlined a little. Of course that just means I have to relearn a bunch of stuff. Most of the annoying things about the windows paradigm are still there. Oh, and it was really slow. Probably because it was running in a virtual machine but the host machine was no slouch.

So, should you upgrade to Vista? I haven't used it much but from everything I've read and seen so far, don't bother yet. In fact, don't bother until you get a new computer. And when you get a new computer, get a mac. I promise you won't regret it.

My Next Phone

2007-01-10T01:53:00.000+07:00

About 4 years ago when I was out buying my first cellphone (yes, I was a little late), I knew what I wanted out of a phone. I was looking for more than just a phone, I wanted a phone that also had internet and could connect to regular wireless (like a laptop) as well. I looked at all sorts of phones, some of which kind of had the functionality but none really worked that well.

I ended up going with a moderately nice phone that had bluetooth but none of the features I was looking for. They just didn't exist yet. Well...

Apple (my favorite company!) just released what WILL be my next phone. Imagine a device that is a combination of an iPod, miniature laptop, cellphone and camera all combined into a device the size of an iPod with a touchscreen interface and really well integrated. How cool is that? Now I just have to justify it to Ryanna...

New Car?

2007-01-09T11:17:00.000+07:00

Yesterday I loaned my car to my dad since his was in the shop (someone hit him going down the alley). I needed the van to take the dog for a walk in the woods and he and mom wanted to check out Ben's new apartment. On the way up there there was a wreck so the traffic was stop and go for an hour. During that time a lady ran into the back of my car. Luckily she wasn't going very fast but there was still a little damage to the bumper. So much for my new car.

Getting Settled in the New Job

2007-01-04T11:20:00.000+07:00

I've been working for a couple of days now at my new job and I'm starting to almost feel like I have a clue what is going on. When I was teaching in Bandung, I had a grey Dell Inspiron 5100 that weighed a ton. I can't complain too much about the laptop seeing as I bought it and many more like it as IT Director. When I left though, I wasn't sad to see it go. I bought a sleek little Macintosh Powerbook 12" and have absolutely loved it ever since.

At my new job I got my laptop from them today since I will be doing MS Visual Studio and .Net development. Lo and behold, it is a grey Dell Inspiron 5100 almost identical to my last one. Oh well, I guess I wasn't the only person who bought a bunch of them. I'll be keeping my Mac for personal use though.

New Car

2007-01-02T01:46:00.000+07:00

So I picked up a new car a couple days ago. It is a silver 2003 Honda Accord with less than 40,000 miles on it. I really like the car since it is a standard and drives really nice. I looked at the VW Jetta but decided not to get it for several reasons. I'd don't have to drive around my parents van anymore.

Happy New Year Everyone!