Lots of work

We did a major IT change at work this past weekend. This results in 2 things.

1. I spend a large amount of time making changes to the network, computers, software and a pleura of other changes.
2. I spend even more time addressing the bugs that pop up and the user issues and training that has resulted from the large change.

So I've been very busy the past few days and it has finally slowed down to where I can blog. I am excited for the changes we have made with our system. It is now a more secure system and I have more responsibility with translates into greater job security.

Jen and I finally found an out of town excursion that we can do. In April we will fly to Denver and enjoy a sci-fi convention that we've enjoyed before. Thanks to my Mom taking our kids and Carl for getting us discount ticket. That, plus spring finally arriving, has made life look happier and fun.

Driving on nerves

Yesterday began like any normal day. I got in my car and started driving to work. But then I found a fork in the road, literally. A fork got into one of my tires and caused a flat. So I had to put on the donut tire and find a place to replace the flat tire. I ended up a wal-mart who said they could not patch the tire and I would need a new one. So there went 90 bucks.

Then I noticed my licence plate which reminded me that my car registration expires this month. This surprised me as I normally get a notice in the mail that I need to renew it. I guess with us moving recently, the government mail could not catch up to us. So I had to get the car inspected. There went another 90 bucks.

After getting the car fixed up and repaired to pass inspection. I then had to get it registered. Thankfully I was able to do it where I got the car inspected. But it sure was expensive. There went another 90 bucks

While I was trying to get my car problems addressed. By poor wife called to let me know she was not feeling very well and asked me to come home and take care of the family. I was never able to get out of Riverton when I started for work this morning. So it was not a long drive to return home.

So when I started my day, it looked like it would be a normal day. But it ended up with me working from home, running around getting my car fixed and spending 270 dollars. I'm glad that everyday is not like today.

The drill is complete and now I can look at myself in the mirror.

Saturday was the first in a while where I did not have a full day full of CERT classroom training. We did have a city wide disaster drill that I participated in. Everyone was suppose to meet at the church to report their findings of any emergency cards left by the city. The first one to arrive was suppose to be the one in charge. I was one of the last ones to arrive and when I walked in I asked, "whose in charge?" no one responded. One thing we learned in CERT training class is that if no one answers to that question, then you are in charge. That was when I realized that I really need to be prepared to act in an emergency, because if no one wants to be the one in charge, then no help is ever organized.

We got organized and tested. Everything went well. We will have much more fun in September when we test again. That time we will run a full test, with people pretending to be hurt and everything.

We have been slowly trying to get our house set up. Today we decided to hang a 5x3 foot mirror on the wall. The wall Jen chose to place the mirror on was the over 10 foot high wall that follows the stairs down to the basement. The mirror is over 50 pounds and so it was quite a challenge to figure out how to hang it on this tall wall. Because of the stairs we could not place a ladder in front of the wall.

Thankfully we have vaulted ceilings and this wall did not go all the way up to the ceiling. So instead of coming from the bottom up to the top of the wall, we brought the mirror from over the top of the wall into place. I had to borrow my neighbor and his ladder to make it work. But surprisingly it did. Now we have the mirror hanging in our family room and it makes the room look so much bigger, not to mention nicer too.

Enjoy the pictures of it.

Whenever danger is near...never fear...Neils is near.

Shortly after we moved into our new home, neighbors and church members started asking us about ourselves. I made the mistake of saying that I like to be involved in the community. I was referring to being involved politically. But saying that got many people excited and they asked me to serve as our neighborhood CERT team leader. CERT stands for community emergency response team. Meaning that if a disaster ever strikes that is big enough the prevent firemen, policemen, medical providers and government programs from reaching you during a disaster, the CERT team is all there is to help until you do get help from outside.

I said yes but did not realize what I was getting into. I am glad to help and wanted to learn more about our community's disaster plans. But I hope to never have to be used. For the past 3 Saturdays I have been attending a CERT training course. There I learned how to put out small fires, how to lift large objects off of people, perform light search and rescue, how to triage and treat people for injuries. I also learned how to set up a command center and organize rescue efforts.

This Saturday I get to put my newly acquired skills to use during a city wide test. We will pretend that there was a 6.8 size earthquake. There is fires and broken utilities. Main roads are impassable or closed to emergency vehicles. I need to lead a team in checking my entire neighborhood to see what damage there is(as shown by damage cards left on homes by the city.) Then I need to communicate this up the chain to my leader who has communication to the city.

This should be very interesting and doing it once will make it easier to do during a real disaster. I will blog about it after our test. Until then, I am going to look forward to it being over.

Officially moved in

We are now officially moved into our new home. It became official over the weekend after I found the last of my surround sound stereo speakers and got them hooked up. Then, after the kids were in bed, we enjoyed a movie we had not watch in some time. "The Princess Bride." Even though comedies like that one do not have need for surround sound, it still made the movie much more enjoyable.

Now I can bring out all my Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and other movies and enjoy them at 5.1 level enjoyment. I think I will put in the latest DVD version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail next . Care to join me?