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12-31-09 11:33pm
Rhonda is now trapped on bed rest. We really, really hope that Kelsie waits for 40 weeks, we are currently at 34, and could easily appear at 36. Bed rest SOUNDS fun, but it is not. Back pain, heart burn, no exercise allowed, etc. But keeping the bun in the oven is essential. It has been an interesting 2009, a lot of bad and a lot of good. I am ready for 2010, it is going to be a busy and wonderful year. Happy New Year!
12-20-09 8:41am
The snow is over now, and we have about 18" on the ground. Shoveling the driveway was a joke yesterday. Every swath was covered by the time the next was done. About half the driveway remains to be shoveled - but we aren't going anywhere. We have everything we need in the house, for now. Meanwhile, my entire family (mom and dad, sister, husband, two kids, brother, wife four kids) are all on their way to Miami right now to catch a 50th wedding anniversary cruise to the Caribbean. Most of them had to drive out in the snowstorm last night, to try and catch a plane out of Raleigh as Dulles was snowed in completely. T the best of my knowledge, they all made it to North Carolina safely, and are waiting to board their flights out. Always nice to have a sunny vacation in the middle of a blizzard!

The baby's name has been chosen: Kelsie Reagan Troutman. Unless she surprises us as a boy in February. She is kicking mom ferociously, and non-stop. Rhonda is doing well, but having trouble sleeping. Comfort is obviously an issue!

11-22-09 6:42pm
Travel is over now, until after the baby is born in February. At least I hope travel is over, my last trip was a surprise 2 day to Melbourne, FL for recruiting efforts. I anticipate a request to visit San Antonio in my future as well, but I don't believe that is wise. We have now committed to renovations of the homestead! Expanded master bath, new master closet, totally redone second bath and closet and custom built-ins around the fireplace. Is it wise to go into debt right before the baby comes? Probably not, but it is now or almost never on the work. We hope to have it all done by mid-January at the latest.
10-10-09 7:39am
The Nobel Peace Prize is a complete joke. Giving it to Obama - for WHAT? Politicizing the award only demeans those that deserved to win it in the past. Obama should reject the award, admitting that he has done nothing to deserve it.
9-22-09 10:47am
Yesterday's ultrasound went great - looks like we have a healthy baby GIRL on the way in February!
8-10-09 9:59am
On Father's Day in June we found out that Rhonda is due February 9th! A little backup unit is on its way. Very exciting, Rhonda is 14 weeks tomorrow and we are looking forward to all of the changes coming our way.
7-21-09 11:40pm
We have just returned from our Alaskan cruise! It will take me a while to sort through all of the photos and videos, but expect them this week. We had a great, relaxing trip sailing the Island Princess from Whittier down to Vancouver via Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. A long day of flying on Sunday brought us to Anchorage and a four hour time difference. 9pm felt like 1am, and the sun set at 10:30 (don't worry it was back up at 3am). Highlights included a remote nature hike with a surprise visit by a brown bear, a helicopter tour of several glaciers, dog sledding on a glacier, and a chance to visit my parents' old home on 4th Ave in Ketchikan. I'm sure it has changed quite a bit since the mid-60s. Another long flight home left us tired and jet lagged, and now we are back to work!
6-23-09 8:51am
Ca$h for klunkers? Is a 4 mpg increase worth a billion or more in further auto subsidies, delaying the inevitable collapse another year or two? No. Obama has no idea what he is doing, grasping at straws, telling us all not to worry, the Government will make it right. As someone intimate with the US Government bureacracy, let me tell you a well known secret. The Government isn't very good at much of anything as a whole, and fairly incompetent in any number of ways. Particularly when it comes to regulating the economy. Natural highs and lows of commerce have a Darwinian effect on industry. Given Obama, congress, and even last minute Bush reaction in 2008, we would still have oil lamps in the street and coal in the basement had they been setting policy. In the global economy, the US is no longer a manufacturing power. It has not been for 20 years. We can not compete on any level with cheap goods and labor from China and India. The mother who cares for her children does not fight for them to keep bailing a sinking boat. She points to the ladder they must climb to reach the helicopter.
6-10-09 10:53am
I have launched an attack on local vendors that place illegal signs in the public right of way, excluding only political signs, yard sales and real estate signs. All others are fair game to be ripped up at stop lights and thrown in the truck. It is amazing how many there are, every day. To assist in this cause, I will be posting the vendor information for the biggest offenders, knowing well that Google search will float this reference to the top and hopefully cause them to lose business.

Fairfax Marble and Granite in Chantilly is a huge offender with easily 100 signs littered throughout Walney and Rt. 50 in Chantilly, VA. When I called the manager, his defense was that other companies are doing it and costing him business, so why shouldn't he do it? I explained to him the concept of two wrongs not making a right, then reported him to VDOT and the State Corporation Commission. I hope this small business fails in the weak economy.

5-12-09 5:27pm
After over a week of troubleshooting why my Blackberry Curve won't sync with PocketMac to Entourage any more, I discovered that the latest Facebook application breaks calendar sync. No more mobile Facebook until they issue a patch or a workaround!
5-6-09 10:42pm
Long time since my last update, a lot has ben going on. Two relatives and a college mentor have passed away in the span of two weeks, followed closely by the aquisition of my company Crucial Security by the Harris Corporation. This is keeping me very busy. Adding to that, my blood glucose levels are elevated and undergoing tratment with immediate results. No swine flu hitting the family - but apparently it is not really any worse than a normal flu unless you got it early, and in a country with poor healthcare. Fortunately I live in a country with the greatest healthcare in the world. Until the government breaks it in the next few years. In advance of Sunday, let me take the opportunity to say HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to my mom Barbara, sister Denise and mother in law Donna. And to all the other moms out there.
4-9-09 11:30pm
Jim Ball, you will be missed. You died way too young.
3-28-09 6:31pm
The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

I'll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me and love another,
You'll regret it all some day:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between.
But not you've left me and love another;
You have shattered all of my dreams:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me
When I awake my poor heart pains.
So when you come back and make me happy
I'll forgive you dear, I'll take all the blame.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

Rest in Peace Helen 'MaMaw' Wilhoit and Robert 'Uncle Bob' Troutman.
3-13-09 9:58am
Another Friday the 13th. Stay away from the lake.

If Sirius wants to keep me and my three units as a customer, as well as two other subscriptions for family members, they will RECONSIDER the policy of requiring a separate subscription for internet streaming. Streaming makes my subscription worthwhile, when combined with the vehicle units. My one hour in the car each day does not. I know they are in economc trouble at the moment, but they need to entice new listeners as well as raise new revenue. Effectively adding to my costs does not entice me to re-subscribe. Simple economics here people.

2-28-09 11:50pm
I am hating just about everything about the Obama administration so far, to include Democratic leadership in Congress. A lot of stored up Democrat frustration releasing in an orgy of big government spending. They want to take over 401k. They want to reduce mortgage interest tax deductions. They want the top 2% of earners to pay 50% of the costs. Have you read Ayn Rand? Her vision is coming true. Atlas Shrugged indeed. This is looking more and more like pure socialism. It does.not.work. The New Deal II will send us into the next Great Depression, see a massive increase in poverty related desperate crimes, and an increase in global destabilization.
2-15-09 9:05pm
Today I took my father in law to the Chantilly, VA gun show. The place was absolutely packed, we had to park at the other end of the parking lot. In the end I settled on a tiny little Ruger .38 semi-auto. Very cool. Anxious to try it out when we go shooting at Blue Ridge on Thursday afternoon. After getting home and cleaning the new gun, I started measuring the appliances so we can decide what to buy as new replacements (Stove/Cooktop/Microwave/Fridge). Naturally, since I had the measuring tape in hand, I measured my height. I am now 5'11" down from 6'1" in college. Part of the height loss is due to a full day of walking on concrete, and natural settling of the spine. Part of it might be from a 2003 back surgery affecting two discs. Part of it might just be age. Of course I am going to check again in the morning. Perhaps I will be back to at least 6 foot. Two inches severely impacts my BMI!
1-30-09 4:02pm
I have decided to de-activate the pencam. It had a good run - 11 years, first at work then work and home, then just the dogs. I'll leave the files up fr a while, but I don't plan on running the cam at home any more. It isn't what it was.
1-23-09 5:44pm
A follow up on EFS. We found a 6 month old DVD with the files intact and unencrypted. All is well now, except for the last 6 months of changes. Better than nothing!
1-20-09 12:53pm
Very quiet at work today. Many pople staying home because of the draconian travel restrictions surrounding DC today. Welcome to the WHiteHouse Mr. Obama. Enjoy your stay.

So this weekend I backed up the main system and wiped it, re-installing XP again. Seems necessary every few years. I couldn't resolve a couple of frustrating issues that caused 100% resource utilization, so I wiped. Re-install went great. At least until I got to Rhonda's files. When we first set up the system we had two user accounts which we later combined files. Apparently when we set her up, we encrypted her files using EFS. All this time, we never realized her document directory was encrypted (it was not showing Green in Explorer). So the backups we made were all encrypted, and her key is gone with the system wipe. All of her files and email are lost. Frustrating.

1-16-09 6:41pm
Dear President Bush: Thank you. Thank you for your service to our Country these last 8 years. You received no love from the press, nor little acknowledgement of the many great things your administration did for us. Yours is a thankless job. Thank you for being strong when we were weary of 8 years of politics by opinion poll. Thank you for cleaning up eight years of mistakes. Thank you for being strong enough to stand by your convictions even when others felt you were wrong. You did the right thing. Thank you for standing tall while miscreants disrespected you and the office. Thank you for not lowering yourself to their level. Your administration was far from perfect, as was every one before you, and most will be in the future. We wish the incoming President all of the best. We won't protest his election with ugly signs and rotten fruit, we are above that. We will complain when the entire area is shut down for his crowning, and we will keep watch over his incoming politics as usual. So take a well needed rest in Texas, and in retirement be a better man than Clinton and Carter - don't criticise the sitting president. Let them fail on their own, as is tradition. Good luck President Bush, and Thanks.
1-11-09 12:05pm
Waiting in the Las Vegas airport to fly home, having trouble getting any bandwidth out of the Sprint EVDO card. Guess all the geeks are overloading the system at CES. The airport wi-fi isn't even working. Which is too bad, because I am trying to play with Boxee. Have you heard about Boxee? Nice little app for Mac/Linux that consolidates your local and networked media libraries with online streaming media like Joost, Netflix, etc. Slick interface. Good enough that I am thinking about buying a Mac Mini for the entertainment system and throwing this on to manage it (works with the magical little Mac remote. The solution I was looking for!
1-10-09 10:15am
I am in Las Vegas again this week for CES. The past couple of days have involved a ton of walking, dong our best to cover each of the booths in the South, North and Central halls of LVCC. Today we hit the Sands, which is really a two day job itself. No time for vendor tents scattered across the parking lots. It is fairly cool out in Vegas - mid 30s at night and mid 50s during the day. Not that I would complain, when it is raining and freezing at home!
1-1-09 8:45am
Happy New Year! Last night we had an early dinner at the Heart in Hand in Clifton, VA. Now we watch the rose parade, walk the dogs and crack open the champagne again.


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