quick updates

I have been remiss in not blogging much lately.
Here are a few highlights.
I will try better…. honest.

Will’s is making progress with walking better. The chiropractor is only seeing him every 2 weeks now and wants Nan and I to let him go and be a kid.. thank goodness.

My bike is in the shop having the front fork seals redone. I did not particularly want to do this until next year, but oh well. Such is life. Once it is done, I should be good to ride for the rest of the season I think.

We were able to get some new furniture this last week on trade. Lovely new black leather set for the family room. very nice.

Taffy the dog continues to grow into our family more and more. She is adorable and loves nothing more than to just be with the family.

I installed with the help of my good friend Rich, a Small Business Server with Blackberry Enterprise Server on it last week. For those of you who know what that is, rejoice with me…. I have shared calendars and am consistently getting my mail!

Nan and I are going away for our 15th anniversary for a weekend to Stratford in a couple of weeks.

My wife is the best.

Work has been crazy with thinking of new code and trying to drive more business through the door.

My dad is now retired! Actually, he is on vacation for the next 4 weeks technically and then he is retired, but he is lovin’ it.. I can’t say I blame him.

I am fighting a sinus infection. Most of the infection is gone I think but my left ear is still blocked and I have a hard time hearing out of it. So, if I twist around when I am talking to you, it is because I am just trying to hear you better.

Our annual meeting at the church is tonight.

I think that is it. It’s enough though.

Changes to how we live

Nan and I have been doing some very serious thinking about the priorities in our lives lately.
Somedays it seems simply overwhelming what we are involved in.

I am getting tired of the learning curve that my profession keeps me on. Sometimes, I think it would be really nice to be able to use what I have for a while without having to worry about what is the newest and greatest thing coming down the pipe that I will have to incorporate into my code.
To some, my sitting on the couch with my laptop in the evenings might not seem like work. It is.

Nan teaches piano and loves it. But it keeps us hopping. She is also a full-time mom. It simply amazes me how she keeps the Britton ship running so smoothly.

My boys.
Wow, my boys. They are growing so fast. I simply cannot fathom that Will is going to be 11 next month. This is frightening. Nan and I were talking about it just last week and we believe that we are fast approaching the time when my boys will want to spend more time with me developing than with their mom. That was difficult for Nan. She has been the ONE for the last 10 years and that is starting to change.
That is not a bad thing. It is good. Everyone goes through this and I am looking forward (with a little bit of healthy fear) to seeing my boys grow into young men.

So, I think we are going to make some changes in the decisions we make about how we spend our time. We had a wonderful weekend away this weekend and just had an absolute blast hanging out together. My boys are such fun to be with. Their senses of humour are quickly developing to the point that anyone is fair game now with sarcasm. Sweet.

The boys learned to swim in deep water this weekend. I am so thankful that this finally happened. It is something that I learned fairly early in life as did Nan and we wanted the boys to feel confident near water. They are all over it now.
Good days

Different days.

I have a lot on my mind and plate these days.
It is quite obvious that blogging has not been a big priority in the last while.
I am considering taking the blog offline.
I probably won’t though. It is easy enough to leave there.

Dunno. gonna wait and see for a bit.

Facial hair.

I was talking with Chris and Eric this Sunday at church about the potential of getting a motorbike this next year and that I had been to the motorcycle show this past weekend with a friend.

Chris told me I needed to shave the goatee and go with a handlebar mustache….
I said no, I had done that once for a 70’s party and it was way TOO FUNNY to do for real.
Then they decided that a soul patch would be good.

Now, I am in a quandry…. If I get a cruiser bike (which is what I would ultimately like), do I stick with the goat, go handlebar, or the soul patch.

I know this is asking for trouble, but what are your thoughts?

Just keep in mind, that I do need to look decently presentable to my clients when I arrive onsite.

Bad day…

Do you think I could have one more client call me in an absolute panic today?

I DO NOT THINK SO!!!!

man, what a blechhhy day.

Lunch Meeting.

So I am meeting with a fella that I have done a little bit of work for to have lunch today. It is a working lunch as he has another project that he would like to discuss whether I can do for him or not.

I really appreciate this man. He attends our church and is on the board with me. I think the thing that impresses me the most about this individual is that he is a man of integrity and family comes first.
There is always the issue at church of “not enough people at the the end of the jobs”. It has been a thorn in my flesh for quite some time now.
The fella that I am meeting for lunch I know has walked through this issue before and has taken a really good tack on it I believe.

He is involved when he can be, but will not hesitate to step away when need be for his family time.

I think I can learn a lot from this gentleman.

Delays, delays delays..

Blech. I was supposed to release a new website for a client last week. It did not because I was dealing with SSL certificate issues. I thought we would be ready this morning but alas, we will not be. Crap!

Oh well, the client is an understanding person. It is not my fault really, I just feel that I wanted to make the deadline.
We shall see today what comes of it.

5 questions

One of the sessions at the conference that Nan and I went to a couple of weeks ago now was put on my a company called 5Q Communications.
Neither Nan or I got to their session but we were able to pick up there propaganda sheets in the exhibitors hall.
One of their sheets that caught my attention was 5 questions that CHANGE the web.
Here is an quote off the sheet:

Creating an effective web site starts with asking the right questions. Before launching into any project, 5Q starts with careful analysis that helps clients discover the keys to developing an effective site.

1. Who is your audience?
2. How do you define success?
3. What is the primary action?
4. Do your design and text communicate effectively?
5. Are your systems integrated and compliant?

Very interesting. I think that this is something I need to keep in mind when walking any client through the process of web development.

busy busy busy

Man, where does the time go?
I think I have 5 web projects on the go, a big software write, ongoing projects…..

I am not complaining. I am happy and thrilled for the work. I like work.
Work is good.

Still going…

Wow, this is some project.