Checking In

A catch-all, catch-up post

There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 43 of 114).

Burning the midnight oil at both ends

I have plenty more topics upon which I’d like to pontificate tonight but I’ve been burning the midnight oil at both ends (as my former boss and world-class metaphor-mixer Buck Bohac might say). My Skylab post kept me up later than I should’ve been up but that wasn’t the worst of it. At 4 AM our son roused us out of bed to announce that he “needed a drink of water.” Argh! Needless to say, sleep was quite fleeting after that episode.

I’m just looking forward to finishing my last day tomorrow at my current job. Then I’ve got a few days off before jumping all-out into my next gig. I’m really psyched about it but it’s been really tough splitting my attention between the two worlds. I’ll be really happy when I’m settled in with my new job.

Rancho Relaxo

We started our vacation this morning, taking the family to Emerald Isle, NC for three days of beach. We hadn’t planned ahead for a longer trip, nor did I have the vacation time saved up to take a longer vacation. It’s a shame, really, because though I rarely take it I really like knowing it’s there. But I digress.

We arrived at my friend Shane’s beachhouse, Rancho Relaxo, around noon, under overcast skies and with a gentle breeze blowing. After stopping off at the Lowe’s Foods to pick up some groceries (and stopping at Quizno’s to get some lunch) we showed up at the beautiful Rancho.
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Summer winding down

There’s barely a week left in the kids’ summer vacation. The mornings and evenings are considerably darker than they were just a month ago. Though it is still quite hot, I can feel the summer slipping away and fall approaching.

I look towards this fall with a bit more curiosity than those before. Not sure why, really. There’s no specific event that attracts me, I guess it’s just the concept of a season where it’s actually pleasant to be outside. It’s true that I’m starting a new job soon, and while that certainly is exciting there’s more to the season I guess.

Maybe we will get a hurricane or tropical storm or two. And I’m looking forward to how the kids adapt to their new classes. Regardless of what takes place, I’m looking to close out our year on the best note possible. I don’t exactly know what that entails but I look forward to finding out.

East Raleigh Community Day

I am back from a fun but busy day at the East Raleigh Community Day. I was the master of ceremonies for the four-hour event, and also ran between booths to fetch supplies when needed.

It was fun, there was a good turnout from the neighborhood, and lots of kids got school supplies. That’s a good day in my book!

You can see pictures on Flickr here.

Changing directions again

… well, not exactly changing directions so much as returning to the direction I’ve traveled before. Today I put in my notice at one of America’s great places to work. I have landed a sales engineering position at a growing software company. In a lot of ways it’s pretty much my dream job: I get to do what I love to do best, the folks at the company are all really cool, and I can really make an impact right from the start. I had been looking for the right position and it looks like it found me.

Sales engineering takes a combination of technical and people skills. While it’s easy to find people who excel in either category, it’s not often you find someone who excel in both. I’ve been using my technical skills at my current job but almost none of my people skills. This gives me a chance to perform while still being a geek. I love it.
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Railhawks

We went last night to watch a game between our local professional soccer team, the Carolina Railhawks, and the Rochester Rhinos. They were having a ceremony at halftime to honor the athletes from each CASL team who were recognized for their outstanding sportsmanship. I am quite proud that our daughter Hallie was among those good sports.

We got lost on the way to the stadium, arrived late, and endured an especially sweaty night, but the family enjoyed the game in spite of the Railhawks losing 0-2. I hope we will see another game soon, even if Hallie isn’t being honored!

An “in the moment” Sunday

Sunday was a day when everything came easy. I awoke refreshed. Breakfast wasn’t hurried. There was time to read the paper. And nothing on the family “agenda,” other than picking up Hallie from her sleepover. Kelly ran that errand while Travis and I figured out how to keep ourselves busy.

We began by moving our freshly-painted rocking chairs out of the garage and onto the screen porch. then we fixed a balky toilet. Then we vacuumed the porch floor. Then we began sweeping out the garage. Then before I knew it, Kelly returned with Hallie had returned and Hallie and the girl next door were gleefully sweeping the garage with Travis and me. I felt a bit like Tom Sawyer or something, but everyone was having so much fun I felt guilty when I finally had to declare the garage clean.
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Back from Virginia

We arrived home from Virginia yesterday afternoon after spending some fun time with Kelly’s parents. Kelly took the kids up in the middle of last week, with me joining them Saturday morning. I took the train up to Fredericksburg, where Kelly met me for some food and sightseeing in town before we headed west to Warrenton. The Oskar Blues Gordon beer at the Capital Ale House was quite tasty!

Sunday, we participated in the Leesburg Independence Day parade, with the kids on bikes and dog in tow. Rocket’s tender paws didn’t enjoy the blazing asphalt we encountered on that hot day but the rest of us had fun.

Monday was spent underground at Luray Caverns in Luray, Virginia. It was quite a respite from the heat wave, where temperatures have been in the mid-to-upper 90s.

Good to be home now, though I’m already looking forward to the next holiday!

RTP power failure

Yesterday afternoon around 2:45 PM we experienced a power brownout at my $WORK in RTP. Word was that a contractor working behind the Social Security Commission building in RTP was digging and “hit a primary.” This caused many of our systems to go offline. We get our power from Duke Energy.

I can’t seem to find any external reference to this power failure but I’m sure other businesses must have experienced it.

Biking in Durham via Amtrak, part I

Meeting the train in Raleigh

Kelly and I were pondering how we would spend our rare, unscheduled Saturday this past weekend when a note came in from our neighbor, Reid.

“Hey, Jacob and I are heading to Durham on the Piedmont at noon today w/ our bikes. Will we catch the next train heading to Raleigh around 3pm. Only 10 bucks round trip, not bad?” it said.

It was already after 10 AM at that point but with nothing else lined up to do we scrambled to gather our bikes, snacks, and sunscreen for a fun trip on the train and bikes.
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