What Happened?

So here we are almost the middle of February, and I haven't posted since my notes about leaving Will at school. I've been busy and happy and doing fine.

We've been getting things started for the San Luis Obispo Chapter of the National Management Association. Here's a link to their site. When things are up, you can check it out here. (Haven't done too much of the real honest to goodness web master stuff, but I think I could given enough time.)

As the week goes along I'll post more, but for now, just so everybody knows, I'm still here.

A New Chapter

So as the parents of a college aged student we finally had THE experience. I drove him to the University that with any luck will be where he gets his B.S. I am very proud of his accomplishment in getting accepted to three very nice schools. I'm not thrilled that the school he chose is the arch rival of my school (this ought to lead to some nice discussions over the rest of our lives). I really am happy that he picked the school he wanted to go to. 

There were lots places he could have gone, I'm glad he choose a good school even if it's the University of Utah. I'll just have to deal with the fact that we aren't going to root for the same teams when we talk about the BIG GAME.

I'll post more about the road trip, we have pictures and all sorts of things. I'll let you see it. It's just taking more time than I had planned.

This Reminds Me of Being a Kid

Back when I was in school, my dad would take time between Christmas and New Year's off. Since my son, Will, is planning on leaving for The University of Utah in a couple of weeks, I decided that I would try taking some time off. By the time I was done getting things planned, I realized I was going to need about three weeks. So I put in for all of them a while ago. I learned that I could have the time. It made things much less stressful not to have to worry about getting work tasks done and then getting ready for the holidays. This might be something I do in the future as well. I'll see how many others jump on my plan for 2009.

Christmas was great. We got to spend it with my sister's family. Those two boys while busy are really funny. It was nice to sneak around and do things for Will as well. He is such a great young man and tries so hard to be positive about what he goes through. I'm sure he'll do well when he leaves. It seems like such a long time before he goes, but honestly it's only a few days. For now, we're just going to have fun, watch lots of football, and try one more time to make a bunch of good memories.

Let's Talk Microsoft Geek-dom

I told you before that I would tell you all about the big certification I have been working on this year. My supervisor (or was it his boss) got the wild idea that we needed to be certified and started the process. Some of us got the COMPTIA A+ certification. This one was NUTS. (For those that don't know, this certification deals with computer hardware and electronics much more than with how to work them. We're talking about individual chips and circuits, not Operating System commands or other things.) This really didn't reflect what we do. Most of these skills we outsource, so we were back to looking for a new certification (I'm glad I didn't have to learn how to wear strips & plaids, which is part of the prerequisite for this test).

Then we learned about a Microsoft certification (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician), click to learn more. To make a long story short, we were told that we would be attending a four day long boot camp training (this is when you get to go away and spend ten to twelve hours per day, studying for the required tests). I had originally been scheduled to attend the preparation over the summer, but it was canceled, so instead I got to go to Santa Clara the week before Christmas, and work on this. It takes two tests (the first is a two hour test the second a ninety-minute one).  They are controlled by non-disclosure statements, like most MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) tests. Two of us went up and were both successful, as the preparations continued, we heard that about half of the people that take the test pass it the first time. This was a bit intimidating, since every body else in our group had been successful in the first attempts... So yeah, I was worried that I'd never get this, but as you can tell, I did it. Granted I had a bunch of help, but I was able to get done.

Conjunction Function 2008

OK, maybe I've been ranting about the bus too much, or maybe I've been a bit stressed about my Microsoft Certification (more on that later), but any way here's the latest from my grey matter. I was standing outside looking west about sundown a few days ago, and I saw a very beautiful sight. I've included a picture to refer to later. It looked this way in my part of the world, it was wonderful. It just really struck me as a neat thing as I stood there and thought about how blessed I am, and how lucky I am to see things like this. You know looking back, I'm glad I've had time to reflect on neat sights.

I've included a link to check out if you don't know about astronomical conjunctions

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081201-jupiter-venus.html

 

Thanksgiving 2008

So here we are again. I've always thought that Thanksgiving is a time when I could figure out how my year has gone. The holidays stop and start the year, I like to spend this time with family and decide if I like how things went. 

This has been a year when I learned that my life was going to change, Will is getting ready to really change how we look at our life. His leaving for school really turns us into those old adults that have children, but they don't live with them. I'm looking forward to the next two months, but I think it's going to be an interesting time.

We're going to be supportive and try, but we'll have to see how it turns out. In the mean time, we're going to celebrate the news that me being sick doesn't mean that it couldn't be worse, that we have a roof over our heads (and we aren't in any danger of loosing our home either), that we have plenty of food, and that most importantly, we have a family that loves and supports each other.

I'm excited for a new year and what it is going to bring. Happy Thanksgiving All.

The Four Seasons in California

Many people that don't live in California tell me that we don't have seasons. I smile at them and tell them we certainly do, they are just different. In California we have Flood, Fire, Earth Quake and Riot Season. What you thought I was going to argue that our five degree (fahrenheit) temperature shift between July and November constitutes a seasonal change like I had on my mission in Pennsylvania?

This has been an interest seasonal time these past two weeks. This is the year that we in California voted to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. You'd think our opponents would understand this. The riots we had in Santa Monica (yes right in front of the temple), and all the hate that many have experienced gears up. We are also having problems with wildfires in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. 

I'm amazed that this has been such a heated item. You know, if all the adult members of the Church voted for the proposition, it would add up to about 1.5% of the voters. Yet we're the group that hate crimes are being committed against, and nobody seems to care. Many people are claiming we are the ones that hate. Yet we're not the ones that are forcing places of worship to close (many of the temples in California have had problems this week). 

I'm sure things are going to settle down. I'm just ready for it to happen now. We'll have to wait and see.