Month: March 2010

Goodbye Gil

We happened upon Gillham (Gil for short) while at the Fun Frolic in 2007.  We decided to play the “win a bunny” game, only because it said you could win an alternate prize.

Over the almost 3 years we’ve had Gil, he’s earned a place in our hearts that no animal or person can replace.

We have came to a fork in the road of life that has forced us to make a hard decision.  We have too many responsibilities currently.  Between work, school, caring for an infant, constant home renovation projects and life we don’t have time to do anything else.

We have loved Gil since that erratic day he entered our lives, and hopes he brings that same joy into the many lives he will be friends with at his new home, Childs Elementary School here in Bloomington.

We didn’t want to take him to a shelter, or give him to another person, mainly because of what happened to Baby Tat.  We learned the guy we gave her to got rid of her within a few months.  Rachel had a bright idea and sent an email to every teacher she could find in the area.  She got several responses, mainly from kindergarten teachers.  In the end, it was a 6th grade teacher who decided he would make a happy addition to her classroom.  She’s very excited and will be picking him up Friday night.

We learned through him that rabbits are high maintenance pets.  Some owners decide to not let them out of their cages, but something about that just seemed cruel & unusual to us.  Rabbits by nature run and hop about, we didn’t want to change that.  So we regularly let him out every night for an hour or so, so he could stretch his legs.  He learned to love and emulate the behavior of his feline roommates.

After the birth of Amelia, that nightly routine has become very hard to follow.  With me at school 3 nights a week, and Rachel caring for Amelia while I’m away, we’re both exhausted by the time it comes to let him out.  Now Amelia is starting to learn to crawl, which has brought more thoughts to our attention.  While sitting in his cage, Gil kicks out some of his bedding and some of his feces.  It would be a full time job keeping that clean and away from a child who will be crawling very soon.

We will miss you Gil!  We hope you have a fun and happy life with all those 6th graders!

This That and the Other

I haven’t had a chance to post anything for a while as my life has became quite full lately.

This week is spring break at Ivy Tech and IU.  It’s been a nice break from the organized chaos that has become my life.  So I thought I would write about the goings on lately.

Backup, Backup, Backup!

I finally got a stable backup file server going.  My original one died and I’m in the process of parting it out.  If you’re looking for some cheap computer parts you can find ’em right here.  I finally gave up on linux and went with Windows Server 2003.  It’s essentially XP with additional goodies for server functions.  I only have one step left, and that is setting up the RAID configuration.  That’s for a safety net should a hard drive fail.

ROX Update

While I haven’t had much time to concentrate on ROX, I have started recording episodes that still play on CATS.  I have many of the episodes on VHS, but capturing them straight to a digital format makes things much easier.  Given the advanced development of my daughter I might be able to start working on ROX again and finally get season one released in a few months.

Amelia

Taylor & Amelia

She is growing and developing at an alarming rate!  She is now eating solid foods every night.  She is also starting to move around on her own, she isn’t crawling yet but very close.  She has learned that she has a voice and likes to use it often.  I would say her favorite activity is getting mommy and daddy wet when she’s taking a bath.  She’s a hoot and a very happy baby.  We couldn’t ask for more.

The Semester From Hell

This semester I’m taking a class I’ve failed before (MATH-111) and a class that interests me (CINS-102).  My math class is great, as the instructor does his best to ensure everyone in class understands the concepts and can do the work.  85% of the final grade in this class is based upon test scores, something I’ve never had to deal with before.  Right now I’m earning a solid B, which makes me very happy.  I plan on thanking him at the end of the semester for being such a good instructor, all teachers should be reminded how much they’re appreciated when they do a good job!  My other class is a completely different story however.  While I’m learning some much needed skills in this class (XHTML & CSS) the instructor seems to use the class has her way to release frustrations she has.  There aren’t many people in this class, and many don’t seem to have the skills required or aren’t putting forth the effort required.  The class has opened my eyes to the world of web programming, but it’s almost impossible to swallow her totalitarian attitude.

Give Me The Fiber

If you live in Indiana, you might have heard about what Smithville Telephone is doing.  All of their customers are receiving fiber to the home.  It’s exciting to say the least.  Last year I rewired the phone lines in my house and installed a LAN in anticipation.  This week we were “pre-wired” for it.  This consisted of them installing a new network interface on the outside of my home, installing a battery backup system in my home, and installing a data jack.  My area, called the “Fullerton Remote” should be completed by the last quarter of this year.  With this upgrade broadband Internet download  speeds are rising from 1.5mbps to 20!  They are also adding television services which beat all it’s competitors, but that’s my opinion.  This upgrade is amazing to say the least.  Do  you know anyone who has access to 100mbps download speeds at home?  That will be their fastest rate, and I’ve seen it work.  It’s almost like comparing a 14.4 modem to a 56k, a world of difference.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is upon us here in Indiana.  The grass is becoming green again, and the temperatures are rising.  That means the honey do list starts back up again.  I listed what we want to get done around the house in an earlier post.  Now it’s time to get into gear and get those items checked off the list!