EngelFish.Net

Sorry, but I had to post this.  It was too cute to not share.

We’ve all had long days, and yesterday was one of mine.  For some strange reason, otherwise known as insomnia, I had to face yesterday on two and a half hours of sleep.  I was in the office by eight thirty and knockin’ heads with a dysfunctional database.  I took a break around three in the afternoon to run an errand that involved carrying $10,000 in cash (just call me Big Daddy Gates) and to grab a bite to eat.  Then there was a three hour interview (sadly the highlight of my workday), which resulted in me not leaving work until ten o’clock.  The lovely drive home was in rain falling hard enough to make even the ducks want an umbrella.  

It was nice to finally be home and enjoy a bit of dinner with Taryn.  Later, while I was checking Flickr & Twitter before going to bed, Taryn shouted some unladylike words from downstairs.  Looking into the room from the top of the staircase, I could see our cat stranded on an island of dry floor, surrounded by a two inch deep lake of water and mud.  The leak we have been dealing with since buying the house last fall has been growing steadily more severe, and the torrential rain last night was more than our sievelike walls could handle.  We could actually see the water gurgling into the room through the wall, and it was visibly flowing across the floor.  That’s right, our basement had an undertow.  There wasn’t anything we could do, so after unplugging everything, we went to bed.  Note that I didn’t say ‘to sleep’.  In spite of my leaden blanket of fatigue, I could do nothing but listen to the rain falling outside and contemplate building an ark out of old milk crates in my basement.

IMAGE:  This is Ty Siscoe.  He was our host for the weekend in Virginia.  He is “da man”.

Taryn & I have shiny new toys!  Actually Taryn has a new toy and I’m waiting on mine to arrive.  We both want to say thank you to our generous benefactor for them.  They Rock!  While Taryn wasn’t all that keen on having one, yesterday I heard her call it ‘my baby’, or was it ‘my preciousssss’? It is a really sweet piece of technology, and consolidates her e-collection (Palm Lifedrive, Casio Exlim camera, iPod, and Motorola Razr cellphone) into one light & easy to use tool.  Setup was a breeze, and use is very intuitive.  We’ve got three complaints thus far: 1) everything stored on her old phone is now inaccessible (contacts, movies, and pictures), and 2) with only 8GB of non-expandable memory it’s not going to hold much of her music collection, and 3) the typepad isn’t designed for the thick-fingered among us.  On the upside: 1) the camera is excellent, 2) the screen’s quality blows us both away, 3) the internet access (while slow) is very convenient, and 4) it’s very easy to sync your outlook/music/calendar/photos (even on PCs).  I’ll have to wait and see how the screens hold up to daily use, and we’ll have to find good cases to protect them.  I haven’t been able to connect it to our wireless network at home yet, which I am pretty sure is due to user error.  It’s also kind of funny how it tries furiously to connect to every wifi access point it finds as you’re driving through a residential neighborhood.  On that note, here is an article on how the iPhones are wreaking havoc on the Duke campus wifi network.  Here, buggy buggy buggy!
 

The trip to the west coast went well.  That being said, I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out and rent a 26 foot truck for a 3,200 mile trip.  Taryn and I both agreed that it was gruelling, and that we’d love to do it again in a motor home.  Sleep and time are valueable, and we passed by many things we’d have like to seen while racing to meet the delivery deadline.  We pulled out of Raleigh around 2:30 pm (EDT) on Saturday, June 30th, and arrived at around 2:00 am (PDT) on Wednesday July 4th.  That clocks us in at just over 3.5 days (86.5 hours to be exact).  The only significant delays were a couple of hours spent at a truck stop while I worked on some office work, and a half day spent visiting with Wayne Casey in North Dakota.  Not a bad time for a cross country trip. 

It was great to visit with my sister and her kids.  It’s amazing how much they’ve grown up since the last time we saw them.  It was also my first chance to meet Lilyth, my niece Cristina’s daughter.  She is a super sweet child, and an expert at wheedling candy from her grand-uncle.   I’m hoping we get to take many trips out there to visit with all of them.

IMAGE: There is a herd of Elk that live in the woods around my sister’s home.  They’re radio-chipped so that alarms go off when they’re close to the highway.  Because of the alarms, we knew they were in the area, so we piled into their family van and went in search of the herd.  We found them wandering in a nearby neighborhood that’s under construction.  I climbed out and crept up toward them, taking cover behind a pile of sheetrock that I also used to stabilize my camera.  After few minutes of giving me the evil eye, this guy decided I was not safe and started moving toward me.  I decided that I didn’t need anymore pictures, and walked back to the van… checking over my shoulder periodically to make sure he wasn’t following me.

After a long long night of driving and working on the computer, we made it to North Dakota. Taryn has a friend from South African, Wayne Casey, who’s over here for a few months learning how American’s farm. He’s been great to visit with, and has provided us with a place to get some real sleep and a hot shower. It has been really great. They’re catching up and enjoying the conversation.