WORK < REWARD

One of the benefits of being a software engineer (a.k.a code monkey) is that I can do my job from pretty much any location. My new employer is fairly flexible and has told me that on occasion working from home is allowed. Sometime Friday night I injured my lower back and have been in pain since. This morning when I woke up I decided that it would be a good day to try out the work from home bit. Despite my initial reservations about not being able to get anything done, it went rather well. Let me tell you, writing code while sitting in a lazy boy, it’s not half bad. Crystal was even nice enough to bring me some crepes while I was working and they were eating their breakfast.

The best part happened in the late afternoon. Ben had just returned home from his cousin’s house and stormed down the stairs to where I was. He walked over to me and pointed to the mouse that I was using on the arm of the chair, and asked me to move it. Curious to see what he was plotting I moved it to the other side of the chair. Ben then proceeded to climb onto the chair, give me a hug and said, “I really love you Dad.” I love the fact that Ben is a loving child and expresses it often. Even though I think that I am just “faking it”, it’s times like this where I think I might be doing something right.

So all in all, I like having the option to work from home, but I don’t think that I would want to do it every day. Just on special days, which hopefully will be even more special with more hugs and kisses.

Work...Work..Work

I’ve been at my new job for a month now and things seem to be going pretty well. They haven’t fired me yet! I work with really nice people and I get along with all of them really well. About half of my team has been there six months or less, so I’m not the only new guy.

As for the job itself, I like it so far. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the company sells software solutions for retail businesses. (Customer List) While our main software suite is pretty flexible some of our customers wish to use a more customized interface. That is what my team does. We add functionality to the existing software to make it all fit together really nicely. For example, a auto lube chain, may get all of the functionality they want from out software for sales, inventory and employee scheduling, but they also want something that can track vehicle service history and provide a list of recommended services for a specific vehicle with specific mileage. So my team will take those requirements and create a system that will do what they want and tie it into the retail.net side of things.

We use java, which I used at Teltronics, so the language isn’t really too new, at least the basics of it. I used to have my own office with windows that overlooked Sugarhouse Park, now I’m in the basement of an old building. I went from covered parking to having to park in a lot a block away and walking to the building. Those are the big drawbacks, the positive side far outweighs the negative. The people I work with are great, I have good equipment to work on, we have quality procedures and QA people to help test, and I’m having fun sometimes.

In summary I have better benefits, better pay and a better environment. Teltronics taught me some good things, and it was a great stepping stone, but this job already seems to be better place and better for me. Plus I have done some good work already and feel like I am contributing to the project aka. I'm useful.

I would like to thank all of the little people...

I decided that I was going to write down a few things for which I am thankful. Maybe it’s the time of year that inspired me and maybe it’s just because I am feeling loved and glad for the happy things in my life, so here goes:

• I am very thankful for a wife who cares about me and sacrifices all of her time, energy and dreams to care for our family. I couldn’t do it and sometimes she makes it look easy.
• I am thankful for a family who brought me breakfast in bed.
• I am thankful for being able to enjoy a good football game, once in a while.
• I am thankful for two loving children who continue to love me in spite of all the mistakes that I make while trying to raise them.
• I am thankful for cooler weather, warm blankets, and children to snuggle with.
• I am thankful for all of my family (both sides) and their love and support of me.
• I am thankful for being healthy.
• I am thankful for good entertainment and friends to share it with.
• I am thankful for all of my friends who forgive me for not contacting them all of the time, but who know that I still love them.
• I am thankful for hugs and grandma’s who give them.
• I am thankful for love, and those who give and those who allow me to give it to them.

I am blessed with many things in my life, some large and some small, but I hope that I can try to be thankful for them all.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat....

Some of you may have heard that I was quite lucky in my new job search and I will be starting the new job tomorrow. I'm a little (or a lot) nervous but I think that I will be able to do the job. I think change always makes me a little nervous. It sounds like a good company, but I am sure that I will find out more in the days to come. The company name is Tomax and they do software for retail businesses. The location is pretty good, close to downtown and about six miles closer to home than the last job. (I am always in favor of shortening the commute.)

I can't help feeling that this is a process that I will need to get used to. I think that in the field of Software Engineering it is quite common to get a new job every few years. That seems weird to me but at the same time, perhaps a little exhilarating. Change is hard, but most hard things turn out to be good things in the end. So we'll just wait it out, raise our glasses and make a toast to the future. Hopefully it won't be happening again for at least a couple of more years.

Oh sNOw!

I can't believe how much snow we got last night. It's too early for this kind of stuff. I even had to break out the shovel. BAH!

After the Flood Part I

So I took some pictures of the basement after it's all dried out. The damage is pretty extensive and will take some time to fix. Hopefully the repair work will start later this week. It's been fairly interesting to live in the guest room once again, but this time with two little children. It's hard not having our stuff accessible or having our own space, but we have to recognize how blessed we are that we have a place to live and friendly people to live with.

Thanks

As some of you know, on Friday, Crystal and I came home to find about three feet of water in the cold storage room and then water damage throughout other parts of the house. I can't express the gratitude that I feel for all of those who showed up (and there were a lot) to help us in our time of need. Many ward members and family and friends were there in an instant and worked all night beside us. To all of them I say THANK YOU! We couldn't have done it without you.

The "No Thank You" Bite

We have a little rule in our household (I believe that we picked up this particular rule from Crystal's sister) that in order for someone to leave the dinner table they must take at least one bite of all of the items on the plate and then if they do not wish to eat further they can say, "No thank you". Beepers was being his normal self tonight and didn't want to eat any of his cheesy potatoes. After a verbal struggle, two stints in the dreaded "corner" and he finally took a small bite of potatoes.

Crystal and I were basking in our small victory when suddenly Beepers in the middle of chewing his potatoes, suddenly and without warning vomited on the floor by the table. All of us kind of stood there in shock for a minute and then we couldn't help but laugh. I don't think we will ever know if Beepers had a sick stomach or if he just convinced himself that the potatoes were not going down, but either way they didn't make it.

Being a parent is interesting difficult work and this will probably turn out to be one of those "you had to be there" moments, but sometimes you just have to laugh at life, even at gross as something as this, or it will literally drive you insane.

It's all French to me.

This morning I wanted to make Crystal a special breakfast, but I had no idea what to make. Last night I searched the web and finally found this quiche recipe that sounded really good. So I got up a little early this morning, grabbed bright eyed Jack, and headed to the store to get the necessary items.

To make a long story short, we came home and cooked it. It was scrumptious. I am not a master cook, but luckily enough it's an easy recipe. So go ahead and try it, I think that you will like it.

It has ham, sun dried tomatoes, potatoes and various spices. mmmmmmmmm!

Sweet Reminders

Today is a special day, because as some of you already know, it was six years ago today that I made the best decision of my life. Six years ago Crystal and I were married and it is absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me. It's awesome because we were already friends and we had been for a long time, but now we have an excuse to spend almost every minute of every day together. I never get tired of her and I love everything that she does. Being a mom and wife is hard, thankless work, but she does an excellent job at both. I am so thankful that she decided to marry me and that she brings this joy and excitement into my life everyday.

Thank you Crystal for everything and here is to looking into eternity with you!

Milestones

Hey look, I'm actually not dead and I can still type. I am not quite sure why I haven't written a post in such a long time, other than the fact that I didn't think that I had anything interesting to write about.

So for the past year, Crystal and I have had a membership to the South Davis Recreation Center aka the Gym. We have had a ton of fun taking Beepers swimming and he loves it. I decided that I wasn't going to let all that money go to waste so I started to go to the gym in the morning before work. I usually spend some time on the treadmill and I have surprised myself at how anyone can do well if they just keep doing it.

Seeing as how I am a freak and I love to keep track of numbers, today marked the 200th mile that I have run or walked on the treadmills at the gym in the last year. I know I toot my own horn a lot on this blog, but I figured that it was a good accomplishment. Here's to the next 200!

Mind Boggling

Today I solved a Rubik's Cube for the very first time! Granted I had to use the instructions to do it, but I still felt like it was somewhat of an accomplishment. I decided to go and get a cube because last weekend my sister was playing with one and was telling me that she has now solved it about three times. Being the official "Geek" of the family, I just couldn't let that slide. (Yes, I know that I am pathetic.) So even though it was something that I always thought would be fun to do, I owe it all to my sister.