Friday, January 23, 2009

A long time coming

I sit here tonight, the house is quiet, Kyndal is a sleep, Kristin is napping and I am exhausted. The project that would never end finally went into production today. I had many, many days when I thought this day would neve come. I thought several times that this one would get cancelled. If you have never been through it, I can not really describe it to you. My team has been working on this project for 15 months. It has been exciting, frustrating, exhausting and rewarding all at the same time. In that time span I had two full time team members and a contractor quit, and I had to fire another contractor. It has been quite learning experience. I am not sure I knew what I signed up for when I took this job.

All that out of the way, it feels goods to sit here tonight and say that almost everything went perfectly. Two small glitches that were fixed in about 30 minutes and the performance could be better, but overall, I would call it a success. I feel a sense of accomplishment to have it done. I have to admit though that I wanted someone to be excited today and everyone just kind of seemed subdued and ho-hum about it all. I felt like we should celebrate. I even felt like we should celebrate when I got home tonight but to be honest I was too tired. Now I understand why the two bosses I had before me decided it was too stressful.

Don't get me wrong, I really like my job most of the time and I think I am good at it. I am sure others would argue that point, but most days it is pretty satisfying. The big drawback is that I lose out on a lot of time with Kristin and Kyndal and with our extended family. I miss all of you and I hope we can spend more time with all of you this year. Thanks to everyone for understanding that when I have had to say I have to work this weekend, I have really meant it.

Now, I have to say a special thanks to my wife. She has been great through all of this. over the past year, she has taken great care of Kyndal (mostly on her own) and great care of me. Most of all she has been very understanding of my overtime and the extra time I have put in at home. It helps that she has done this before and she understands what it is like, but I am thankful for her patience and understanding.

Anyway, if you have read to this point, thanks for reading and I apologize if I bored you, but I wanted to share.

I love each and every one of you who may read this!

Now off to bed........

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Life is about choices and changes

I felt compelled to write a blog entry tonight and forgive me if it is a little all over the place, but here goes.


It is a new year and in the first 20 days it seems there have been several small changes and one large one have and will impact Kristin, Kyndal and I. Obviously, the big change is that we have a new president today. I am excited to see how things change in the coming months and committed to praying for our new president. Regardless of wether you voted for him or not, I believe we should all be in prayer for our leaders and respect the office they hold.


As for the little changes, Kristin and I have been exploring our new hobby (semi waste of time) on facebook. It has been somewhat surreal connecting with people I have not talked to in almost 20 years. Interesting to see how life changes people. We have also been trying to take a more active role in our church. One of the things we have realized is that we are not closely connected with most of the people that we know on a daily basis and that has recently been bothering me. I seem to find myself wishing out loud that I had more people I trusted to provide support, counsel and guidance.


On the work front, the project I have been working on for over 15 months is going into production on Friday. I hope that means less work, but I am concerned it may mean that there are many changes coming. I recently found out a co-worker was quiting to become a writer, simply because he did not enjoy being a programmer. I admire his willingness to try something new, but it made me realize that I am not brave enough most of the time to attempt anything new.


My hope for 2009 is to be a better husband, better father, better son, and make some new friends. If that means stepping outside my comfort zone, I hope God gives me the strength to do that.


Until next time.... Here's new picture, I love it


Saturday, January 3, 2009

You just think your in charge......

I can not believe it is 2009 already. We had a great Christmas. Some quiet time at home, then days with both sides of the family here in TN. It has been great to be home more these past two weeks. Kyndal got so much new stuff. I learned a few valuble lessons this holiday season.


1. Nothing is more valuable than family and good friends.

2. Time goes by so quickly, enjoy it as much as you can.

3. Adults can enjoy the holidays too,

4. It is possible to love and child and want to trade them in at the same time.

5. Just when you think you are in charge....... you realize quickly that you are not, as evidenced by my "Man Room"