the lennards

princess party

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:58:31 PDT

Our little girl turned four today. As you always hear, it seems like yesterday when we were bringing her home from the hospital. It was a wonderful day. Rachel seemed to have a great time, and it is always great to get to see the extended family.

Photos Since Last Update:
Some of the folks from CTS and RadioShack got together for Cricket
Becky, the kids, Sharon, and Amanda visited the Fort Worth zoo over Spring Break
First, Ben is Two, now Rachel is Four. Growing up too fast!

We had a long implementation at work the night before. I didn't manage to finally get to sleep until 4:00 am. Overall, things worked out very well, but it made for a very long day.

The long hours made something fun like Rachel's party that much better. She and Ben get so revved up for these events, you can't help but pickup on some of their energy. By later that afternoon, the whole family was zombie-like, though. I think we are all worn out after the event-filled weekend.

That being said, this zombie needs to brush his teeth and get bed. Long day of hunting brains tomorrow.

picture not so perfect

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:18:57 PDT

I have finally managed to catch-up on all of the photo updates I've needed to get done for months. You'd think I would be able to get to these more often now that the kids are getting older, but it just doesn't seem to get any easier - no matter how much I tell myself it well. <grin>

Photos Since Last Update:
Few Photos of the Kids from the 4th
Shana Visited Texas
Can You Believe Ben is Two?!??
My Team was Kind Enough to Take me Out for my Birthday
Few Shots of Ben and Rachel Together
Tim and Lisa Welcomed their baby girl, Morgan
Hanukkah 2008
Christmas 2008
Our Team got a cake to celebrate the impending birth of Thao's second baby
Thao and Nguyen Welcome Rina
Edward and Emmelin welcome their new baby girl as well!
Great Fun at the Park with Ben, Rachel, and Grandad
Few Random Shots of the Kids from Early 2009

I've taken the easy route on captions, too. I knew if I spent anymore time coming up with excuses as to "not having time," it would never happen. At least I know myself, right? <wink> As you can tell by all of the entries, lots of things have happened since the last update.

The kids continue to be the center of our universe and consume the majority of our time. (As it should be...) Ben has hit his speech stride and gets better at expressing himself every day. It is so nice once they reach this point. Although, sometimes we wish Rachel didn't speak as well as she does now. <wink> They are still such a joy. And, as all children should, they are in full love of their grandparents. They speak about them constantly and always ready to see them.

Gosh, I feel so relaxed now. I don't have to get another update for at least 4 months, right?

day of the not so dead

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:48:24 PST

Run for your lives! The Zombies are coming, the zombies are coming!!!

Good to see that even in poor economic times, people can maintain their sense of humor. Someone broke into one of the electronic road signs in Austin earlier this week and updated the warning to something with a little more "bite." Yes - pun intended! And, while I would never advocate the vandalism that was necessary to pull this prank, I think you will definitely chuckle when you see this one: Zombies Invade Austin. Plus, what kind of punk teenagers would do this kind of thing? Next thing you know, they'll be putting soap suds in the waterfall in Wichita Falls! <wink>

say hello to my leetle friend, the dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:03:36 PDT

After 5 months of slowly getting the pictures up on the site and putting in good descriptions, I am done with everything from my business trip to Asia in May. I traveled with one other guy from work, Keith. We were there for two weeks and visited Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Huizhou, and Taipei. I have a few shots from the business side of the trip, and I have lots of shots from our evening and weekend trips.

Photos from Trip to Asia:
Flight to Hong Kong
First Day in Hong Kong
Evening at Victoria Peak
Temple Street and Mong Kok
Hong Kong and Tai Po
Shenzhen
Po Lin Monastery and Tai O
Hong Kong Museum of History
First Day in Huizhou
Second Day in Huizhou
Arrive in Taipei
Taipei 101

Before I go any further, I must thank my hosts. This was my first chance to travel to Asia, and I could not have been more impressed with the hospitality and gracious nature of everyone I met. In particular, my hosts in each location, being experts at it, made sure every aspect of our trip was planned. We didn't have to worry about anything other than what kind of food to try next. So, please let me extend a special thanks to all of them for making my first trip to Asia unforgettable.

Fortunately, Keith was not intimidated by unfamiliar food. Since I don't have this issue either, we got an opportunity to try several different types of local fare. In a lot of ways, the meals stand out in particular - Indian food around Temple Street, the seafood with Vincent, Regina, Winnie, and Thomas, a typical "Hong Kong breakfast" brought in by Vincent, the Peking Duck, the meal cooked on the giant flat irons with Daniel and Bryan, and the dumplings with Shao and Renee. Again, thanks to everyone for treating us to a variety of food experiences I will never forget. You'll find lots of photos of the meals we shared in the photo sets as well. The one photo we missed was of Stinky Tofu.

April Family Vacation to San Antonio:
San Antonio Zoo
San Antonio Children's Museum
SeaWorld

When you look through the photo sets, I hope you can get a feel for how interesting a trip it was. I enjoyed it and look forward to a chance to visit again someday. Who knows? When the kids are older, it might be a vacation destination for us. I have now visited the dragon, and it was a trip I'll never forget.

I've also posted photos from our April trip to San Antonio. We had a great time on our short family vacation. I think the kids really enjoyed it, too. Enjoy the photos. Now that I have finally caught up on these, I might actually get a few more updated before long. You never know! <wink>

goose eggs and tinkerbell

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:42:29 PDT

Mother Goose had it right again. "Snips and Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails" Compared to Rachel, Ben is the proverbial bull in the china closet. The poor kid has already beat Rachel hands down in the cuts and bruises department. The little guy has trouble letting a week go by without a knot on his head or a new cut or scrape. Rachel has her legs much better than Ben does currently. He still wobbles when he walks complete with the occasional unexplained fall.

Photo Sets Since Last Update:
Thanksgiving with the Brenners
Some just random photos of Ben and Rachel from November 2007
Becky's trip to NYC in December
Typical Ben - Stuck in a chair
Christmas in Wichita Falls with the Lennards and Thompsons
Hanukkah with the Brenners
Christmas Eve and Day with the McCoys and Lennards

Photos from January 2008
Photos from February and March 2008
Rachel and Ben loved the egg hunt at Children's Courtyard
Can you believe Rachel is three? We can't!

Rachel is still very rough and tumble herself. But right now, more noticeable is the fact her cognitive ability is growing by leaps and bounds. It is amazing to watch her 3 year old imagination at work. She constantly creates imaginary worlds for us to explore. Typically the setting consists of her everyday experiences at daycare and here. Like going to the grocery store (aka the living room) to buy dinner with her friend Sarah (who is nowhere to be seen.) It is the best thing in the world. I'm trying to be fully present every moment of it. I realize it is a temporal thing and don't want to miss a thing. Plus, I need these memories when she is tired and cranky and pushing every one of my buttons!

You'll often hear yourself when she talks. Which she does constantly. For instance, when she asked our friend Eduardo, "Do you understand my words?" Or will question her brother. "Do you have your listening ears on?"

Remember galley kitchens? We recently learned that one of our cousins, Shana Gadarian was in the local paper discussing hers.

As long as it has been since a real post, I should really make this one longer. But, it is late, and I must prepare for a vacation coming Tuesday. Hallelujah! Perhaps my batteries will be recharged in a week, and I'll post more often. <wink>

farewell to our friend - dmct

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:52:06 PDT

Once again, I'm posting a picture from work that is going to get me in serious trouble at home. Becky thinks I'm slacking posting family pictures. However, as I keep telling Becky, this only took me 2 or 3 minutes to do versus actually culling through all of the family photos, adjusting them, and getting them "web ready." That doesn't seem to keep me out of hot water, though. <grin>

This is a picture from our luncheon to celebrate the decommissioning of one of our legacy systems, DMCT, and the development of its replacement on a more modern platform. Thanks to everyone involved. The project went great. We really couldn't have asked for a much smoother implementation. And, I can't say we'll miss Interactive Unix or Visual COBOL. Thanks again everyone!

developers in the wind

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:31:43 PDT

Sundar was one of the team members from CTS that helped us work on a major project implementation at RadioShack. It was a joy to work with him, and we all enjoyed the time we got to spend working together. To wish him a fond farewell, we organized a going-away lunch to pass on our thanks. Below, you will find the a link to the photos as well as the 4 short videos that were created at the lunch. Special thanks to Paula for providing the camera for the photos and videos.

Sundar's Going-Away Luncheon:
The photo set from Sundar's Going-Away Luncheon
Bob talks about working with Sundar
Kerry passes on words of wisdom
Paula tells everyone why she enjoys working with Sundar so much
Sundar speaks

Thanks again to Sundar and everyone I am fortunate enough to work with at RadioShack. It is the fine people I get to interact with every day that make something like work enjoyable and keep me energized to report in every day. After all, it is the people that keep the cogs of any enterprise turning.

living with shrek

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:03:57 PDT

Television. Is it the greatest evil to appear in the 20th century, a nice way to pass time, or a valuable tool in a variety of arenas when utilized correctly? (Surely learning something while watching TV can't be all bad.) Rachel is finally getting old enough we are having to give TV its due consideration around when, what, and how much. Until recently, outside of the Mickey Mouse Club in the morning, Rachel had ignored television. She would pause for an occasional glance now and again. Otherwise, she simply did not care. That was until Shrek the Third.

We purchased the DVD right before Thanksgiving for something the family could watch together - kid to adult. We didn't end up watching it, so Rachel didn't see it for the first time until that weekend. Not only was this the first movie she ever watched from beginning to end, but she was immediately enamored with it. Since then, she constantly asks to watch the "Shrek Movie." If we'd let her, I think she have it on the television 24/7. The good news is, she will still walk away to read a book with me or Becky, to play with her little brother, or go to the park. On the other hand, it is scary the amount of her attention it can seize given the right conditions.

Photo Sets Since Last Update:
The First Halloween where Rachel was Able to Trick or Treat
40th Birthday Celebration for my Boss, Chris - Full Redneck Style
Jason's Halloween Party
Ben's First Shoes
Ben's First Haircut
Ben's First Birthday
Rachel Helps to Build the New Kids Table
Ben Fell Asleep at the Table
Drew's Bar Mitzvah
Miscellaneous Photos from September
Miscellaneous Photos from August
Rachel Enjoyed Bennett's Birthday Party at Pump It Up
Miscellaneous Photos from July

I was looking back at some of the history on the blog recently. You can definitely tell the point at which each child arrived. Almost the immediately, the frequency of posting went down. Every time I think I've got a good idea of how things are going to work, things change again. They change so rapidly at their ages; for instance, Benjamin is mobile now and a real bull in a china closet. And Rachel is definitely testing every single 2 year old boundary. Please welcome Attitude to the building. <grin>. But for every moment of frustration, there are a million smiles, giggles, and hugs to go with them. So, forgetting is easy.

Ben has turned one since my last post. In the photo set you'll find pictures from his party at daycare and the one we held at home. You'll notice a common element in both sets, Ben loves to take a frosting bath. During the party at home, Eduardo leaned in a bit too close and received a blue frosting tattoo all his own. Just like with Rachel, the first year has flown by. It really slips away too quickly, but the following stages are great in their own way, too. (Think I'll be saying that when they are teenagers?)

The other big event since my last post was Drew's Bar Mitzvah. (Yep. You caught the obvious exception of the aforementioned Thanksgiving with the family. I'll get to that with another post including the pictures. Maybe by February. <grin>) Both Debbie and Drew's speeches at the ceremony were outstanding. They were humorous, poignant, and most of all heartwarming. I have to applaud both of them. And, what a party Bruce and Debbie put together for Drew! Fortunately, neither Rachel nor Ben is old enough to remember it or Laura's. But, poor Sharon had better start saving. <wink>

In case I don't get another post up before next year, let me take this opportunity to extend my best wishes to everyone throughout the holidays and new year! Now, back to chasin' munchkins!

who says programmers can't have fun?

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:26:32 PDT

The Supply Chain Systems department took an opportunity last Friday to hold a team build and take a break from the stress of work. It was a great chance to share some laughs and blow off a little steam. Kerry did a great job of putting it all together, and he really seemed to have a lot of fun (as you can tell from the pictures).

To see the photos from the event, click here. If you have any others from the outing you'd like to have added to the gallery, please send them my way. On a more serious note, thanks to everyone at RadioShack. You guys are great, and I really enjoyed the chance to spend a little down time together. Now, we just have to start planning the next event!

cross country in the family truckster

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Tue, 08 May 2007 06:15:40 PDT

On April 20th, we loaded the family into the Family Truckster (better known as our new Pilot) and headed out to Florida. My parents came along in a second car. (What a blessing the extra hands were!) It was our first official family vacation since Rachel was born. It worked out great, and we had a fantastic time.

Florida Vacation Photos:
Visiting Ryan, Missy, and Chloe in Tallahassee
Our Day at the Central Florida Zoo
Visit to Cocoa Beach
SeaWorld in Orlando

I'll go ahead and post up the list of photos. I'll try to get the narrative added soon.

copius photos

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:08:18 PDT

Once again, I have managed to be a horrible blogger and let several months pass without any updates. You may have noticed some picture albums occasionally show up, but those have been sporadic at best.

New Photos:
Brandy and Marc's Wedding (April 14, 2007)
March Kiddo Update
April Kid Update
Brandy's Bridal Shower
The Celebration with the Family for Rachel's 2nd Birthday
Baby Shower for Kerry and Susan - 3/8/2007
Wedding Shower for Tim - 3/9/2007
Birthday Party for Marisol and Viola
January Kid Update
The Kids have Visitors
Christmas 2006

This post will be a short one. I will follow up with a longer one with the photos and narrative from our recent trip to Florida. Our first attempt at the big "Family Vacation". All in all, it was a great experience -- and a tiring one!

The photo albums listed with this post are all of the ones - with the exception of the vacation albums - I have added since my last post. I think the only ones that require special note are those of Brandy and Marc's wedding. We were lucky enough to get to attend it on April 14th in Fort Worth. It was a beautiful wedding. I only hope the photos do it justice. Best wishes to both Brandy and Marc from our entire family!

hanumas or chrismakkuh?

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 21:07:28 PST

The holiday season has officially begun for the Lennard family. For the first time in my memory, we actually celebrated Hanukkah with Becky's family during the holiday. Since Becky starts back to work from maternity leave the week after Christmas, I also took a week's vacation this week to be home with her and Ben. We took advantage of my being home to travel to Wichita Falls and visit Aunt Geneva, Uncle James, Mark, Diane, and the Thompson wild bunch.

New Photos:
Hanukkah Celebration with Becky's Family
Our Visit to Wichita Falls for Christmas

We got together on the 16th of December, the second night of Hanukkah, to celebrate with Becky's family. Sharon brought in barbecue from Rudy's. As always, we sat down to some great food, and then enjoyed exchanging gifts. Rachel was old enough to really enjoy the holiday this year. Next year, she and Ben both should get a kick out of the evening.

We typically head up to Wichita Falls for Christmas Eve. It is always a mad dash back home for Christmas morning with my Mom. Since I was off this week, we took the extra time and traveled into Wichita Falls on the 19th instead. We were able to spend a couple of hours with Aunt Geneva, Uncle James, and Mark in the afternoon. It had been a year since we'd been able to see them, and they were amazed by how much Rachel had grown. Unfortunately, we Uncle Bill and Aunt Janice were not able to make it. Uncle Bill was suffering from a virus and wisely decided not to expose Ben. It was so nice to get to catch up. We hope we'll see them again after the first of the year.

After spending the afternoon with the Turnbows and Butchers, we headed out to Randlett, Oklahoma to spend our Christmas with my stepbrothers, Brent and Heath, their wives, Cory and Trudi, my stepmom, Diane, and all the nieces and nephews. Cory laid out quite a spread of finger foods; so much I never even managed to get to the cherry cheesecake. You know that means I was *full*! Just like earlier in the afternoon, it was really great to get to see everyone. We only seem to manage to get together at the holidays, so there is always so much to catch up on and not nearly enough time. Poor Rachel was coming down with a bad cold and after the long day, she was fading fast. You can see in the last few photos of the set that she was not her normal energetic and jovial self.

All in all, the holiday season has really started well for us this year. It really reminds us how thankful we are to have such a big and great family!

brief history of time

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:48:49 PST

Since my last update, we are finally getting a little more sleep. Although, since Becky has not returned to work she has taken the brunt of the abuse. Ben is sleeping in longer stretches in the evening, and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As you can tell by my frequency of updates, similiar to when Rachel was that age, time is at a premium. Doubly so with two instead of one...

Huge Photo Update:
Ben's First Update Pictures
Rachel loves her bubble bath!
Shreya's 2nd Birthday Party
The exterior and upstairs in the house were painted
Early November Update on the kids
The Sosebees come to visit!
Mid November update on the kids
Ranch Dressing Moustache
Thanksgiving 2006
Another set of Ben
Rachel gets another haircut
Bob's 50th Birthday Celebration Brunch
Picture Update on the kids from early December

We have been taking pictures, though. So, here are a ton of updates from the last couple of months. I'll try to be better about posting what is happening around here, but I seriously doubt it will happen! <grin>

it is nap time!

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:54:29 PDT

Getting ready for nap time. It was a good chance for Daddy to check out moblogging from his cellphone, too.

we don't need no stinkin' rem sleep!

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:39:02 PDT

Well, it is the second night at home, and we are still living. Yay! Although at times our state could be compared to the living dead. Especially for Becky... Both Mom and Ben are doing well. Just the expected sleep deprivation during the first few weeks... And that doesn't bother you too much because of the wonderful new little boy!

More Photos of Ben:
Becky in her Last Few Weeks of Pregnancy
Benjamin - Day Two
Ben Comes Home

I don't think Rachel is willing to weigh in with her opinion yet. <wink> She is very intrigued by the new house guest but is not quite sure what to make of him yet. She knows he is a baby and often says "Baby, Baby, Baby." She even gave him her blanket tonight. (For a couple of minutes... After all, it is "Mine." <wink>) Overall, I think she has reacted better than we thought she would. We'll see how this weekend goes.

Other New Photo Albums:
Rachel Loves Spoons!
Drew and Amanda's Birthday Celebration
Audrey's Christening

Just like with Rachel's birth, we had several people helping us to spread the word of Ben's birth. And, unfortunately, just like with Rachel we are just now realizing that we've missed some of you. If we have, please accept our apology. Give us a call and a hard time!

bob, becky, and rachel welcome benjamin louis

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 21:03:07 PDT

The big day has finally arrived; Benjamin Louis has joined the Lennard family. We welcomed him into the world on October 3, 2006 at 6:41 pm. He weighed in at 7 pounds 5 ounces. Squeezing by his older sister by 3 quarters of an inch, he measured 20 1/2 inches long.

Ben's First Photo Galleries:
Bob, Becky, and Rachel Welcome Benjamin Lewis
Quiet Time after Early Morning Feeding

Mother and baby are doing great and are both trying to catch up on their rest. Somehow, I think Ben will get the better end of that deal, though. The labor was a long one, but Becky was a trooper as always. The three of us are now four, and we couldn't be happier! More pictures and posts to come... I just wanted to get a few up so everyone could have a peek at Little Lennard #2.

hello, audrey amelia!

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 20:36:01 PDT

You would think that after such a long time since posting, this would be a good entry. That assumption would be wrong. After organize, editing, posting, and captioning the photos, it is getting too close to bedtime to do much more.

The New Picture List:
Pictures of Audrey Amelia from Danny's Cellphone
Rachel playing in the cabinets
Rachel helps to build her toybox
Just some Random shots of Rachel
Becky and Rachel napping together

Most importantly, I need to welcome the latest member of the family, Audrey Amelia! She was born today, September 17, 2006 at 4:54 pm to Danny and Bobbi. The beautiful little girl was 8 pounds, 20 1/4 inches. Our best to the Mom, Dad, and all the brothers and sisters!

rain on the freedom train

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 21:54:50 PDT

Even though the much needed rain on the 4th of July this year made it a soggy one, it turned out to be great anyway. The rain was slow enough we managed to perform the most important function - grilling out. Mom, Skip, and Becky came over. We even got in the pool with Rachel for 10 minutes until a distant lightening flash demanded evacuation of the water. It appears, much like her father, we have fish on our hands. Rachel really seems to enjoy being in the pool and is already splashing her arms and kicking her feet with encouragement from others in the pool.

The New Picture List:
Rachel Gets Her First Shoes
Rachel and Grandad Play Dradel on the 4th
Jason and the Baddleys Visit of the 4th of July Weekend

As the photos from the afternoon show, Rachel received most of the attention today. She found a wooden dradel on one of the shelves; so she and Grandad had quite a time spinning the wooden top and trading funny faces. Good food, family, and playing with Rachel - you couldn't ask for a better 4th of July.

The prior weekend was wonderful as well. Jason came in from Wichita Falls; the Baddleys drove down from Tulsa. We spent Saturday night and all day Sunday together. We squeezed in a short breakfast on Monday. But with both of us being tied to "kid time", our schedules didn't allow for as long a meal as we would have liked.

It was great getting to see everyone. It had been a year since we'd seen Jason and 5 years since we'd seen the Baddleys. We finally got to meet Griffen in person and not just ready about him on Blogging Baddley. He is an amazing kid. Full of energy and inquisitive beyond his years... If you ever need an expert on tornados or water spouts, be sure to look him up. His t-shirt proudly displayed a twister - something that truly fascinates him as his recitation of facts about the weather phenomenon clearly demonstrated. I hear he can help you out with most of your astronomy needs as well. I was exhausted by Monday, though. I'm sure staying up to 1:30 on Sunday night talking about all matters big and small didn't help. If I were smarter, I would have gone to bed at 8:00 with Rachel. <wink>

Since this is an entry on the 4th of July, I would be remiss not to mention the holiday. It always evokes the memory of the Freedom Train for me. I had to cheat and consult the timeline on the website to remember the exact dates the train visited Wichita Falls: March 6-8, 1976.

I clearly remember it being there, though. I was in Kindergarten at the time, and we were lucky enough to get a field trip to see the steam engine and cars. I remember talking about the visit ahead of time in class and the anticipation of something that was clearly important to all the adults around me. Even at 6 years old, I knew instinctively what a proud representation of our county's 200th birthday this was. I still have a ring we were given when we visited the historic train. I think it was the first time I ever remember the emotion that can be evoked when you are a proud citizen.

I hope everyone else had a great holiday weekend as well. Don't let work get you down when you have to go back on Wednesday!

graduates, baby steps, and goodbyes

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 05:09:36 PDT

There have been a couple of big milestones for the Lennard family since my last opportunity to update the blog. The biggest event was Becky, my sister, graduating from Texas Woman's University. On May 13, she walked and received her Bachelors Degree diploma. Becky (the wife this time) and I could not be more proud. We both understand how hard it is to work full time while juggling a full load at school. Since graduating with her major in Criminal Justice, Becky has moved into an investigator position with the State at the State School in Denton.

The New Picture List:
Becky Graduates from TWU
Rachel's Personal Playground
The Farewell Dinner for Arvind

The other big event is Rachel is finally starting to take steps. Becky and I have joked that she has taken her time in order to avoid moving into the toddler room at her daycare. It is much more fun to be the oldest in the infant room. Today she reached 11 steps. Who knows what that will be tomorrow? The chase will be on soon! She also has a couple of more teeth coming in to join the lonely bottom front two.

Finally, let me extend my best wishes to Arvind and his wife on their new adventure in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is leaving the RadioShack account and moving to work with Venkat at Family Dollar. It only seems appropriate since this will be their first meeting they will both have Stetsons presented by their friends at RadioShack on their departure. Hopefully, it will bring them both fond memories of Texas. Working with Arvind has been a joy and he will be missed. Best of Luck!

purely visual

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 21:22:51 PDT

Once again, I've fallen behind in getting things posted. Rachel "has got her crawl on." So, Becky and I "have our chase on." Unless I'm lucky enough to catch a nap in the afternoon, I haven't had much energy to put toward the site. We are starting to adjust to the changes from Rachel crawling, so I'm sure she'll be walking and running in no time. She already navigates around furniture with ease.

The New Picture List:
Trip to Nashville
Rachel's First Haircut
Family Outing to the Dallas Arboretum
Rachel's Birthday Party with the Family
Pictures from just before and right on Rachel's First Birthday
The Pool Deck and Liner Replacement
A Few More Pictures of the Rodriguez Twins

It is already after 11, so I'm heading to bed. I haven't even updated the captions beyond their defaults yet. But at least I got the pictures up, right?

let the good times roll

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 19:47:52 PST

Right in line with the speakers' theme in our Unit Meeting today, I was reminded of one of the best things about RadioShack - the people.

I'm lucky enough to work with these people day-in and day-out. I'm well aware of their dedication to providing the best value they can to our business partners. Sharing in our tasks, I can also testify to their hard work.

I wasn't aware of their creative side, though. I mean - we are programmers after all. The meeting organizers did an unbelievable job of putting together a Mardi Gras themed meeting complete with decorations and a parade. Other members of the unit created floats and wore various forms of Mardi Gras gear to walk in the parade. Holly and Rex, the speakers from HR, even integrated a Mardi Gras theme into their presentations. It turned out to be one of the best unit meetings I can remember!

Best of all - the room was filled with smiling faces and laughter. It was a well-deserved break for a couple of hours to get to show off our silly sides.

Click here for the photos from the meeting. Check out my antenna - quite a look! Keep checking back for the next few days. I expect more photos to come in. You can quick link from 'mardi gras' in the photos box on the right.

las mellizas rodriguez

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Tue, 02 May 2006 06:03:49 PDT

We are proud to welcome to the world the Rodriguez Twins - Marisol Lourdes and Viola Mercedes. They weighed in at 5 pounds 1 ounce and 4 pounds 15 ounces respectively. Both were exactly 18 inches long. Marisol came into the world this morning at 7:47 am and her younger sister Viola followed at 7:57 am exactly 10 minutes later.

Momma didn't deliver exactly where she planned; but made it to a hospital complete with flashing lights and sirens courtesy of the Lewisville Fire Department. Of course, Becky didn't expect a phone call at 6:48 in the morning requesting pickup either. Most importantly, babies and Momma are doing great and the whole family couldn't be happier or more proud. Congratulations to the Rodriguez Family!

Click here to see photos of the precious little girls.

holidays, baby showers, and hard hats

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:53:19 PST

I was a little slow in getting all of the pictures up as I promised, but things like work refused to cooperate. I put up so many album updates today, they rolled off of the latest menu that always shows up on the left. I've included the latest list with this post in case you missed any of them.

The New Picture List:
Whitney's Baby Shower
Pictures of Rachel at 10 months
A few miscellaneous photos of our friends
Our Christmas celebration with the Cone side of the family
Hanukkah 2006 with the Brenners
Photos from New Year's Day
Dinner with Bob and Liz
Christmas Day and the First Day of Hanukkah
Christmas Eve

So, where does the hard hat in the subject line come from? After all of the shifting of the house and yard, the deck around the pool was in terrible shape. We also need to put a safety cover on the pool with the new little resident running around. So, we're are having that work done now. We also decided it was about time to replace the liner as well.

Being the nerd that I am, I have pointed the web cam into the backyard. I'll leave it there until the work is complete. They are pouring concrete on the 13th. I've tried to move everything that might block the view of the camera. I can't promise once they start work tomorrow, they won't hamper the view though. Let's hope not. So, have too much time on your hands? Watch them pour concrete at my house tomorrow by watching the backyard cam.

under new management

noreply@blogger.com (Silent Bob) — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 20:18:15 PST

For once, it isn't really my fault that the the updates to the blog have been slow in coming. My hosting company was bought out and moved all of our websites to new servers. During the interim, I avoided making any posts in order to keep the two sites synchronized. The move is complete now, so I'm finally getting a chance to post the updates.

One of the changes that came along with the move to the new server was a switch back to using Blogger as my hosting service. I'd been using GreyMatter for quite a while. With the move to the new server, we were having difficulty getting the settings just right again. Blogger has really updated the service since I last used it, so it was an easy decision to make the switch back. You'll still find all of the olds posts if you get hungry for history. Just check the archives. Ed's Note: The RSS feed is down temporarily. I'll get that fixed soon.

We've been spending tons of time playing with our new holiday gifts. Becky wanted a new digital camera small enough to fit in her purse so she would have one at the ready all the time with Rachel. Santa was kind enough to bring her a Canon SD-450. Needless to say, I've fallen behind on posting pictures as well. She has been snapping away, so I have literally hundreds to post. I promise to work on getting them up over the next few evenings.

My Christmas present occupied much of the time when I wasn't able to work on the site. I'm the proud new owner of a NetGear MP-101. We originally tried one of the Media Center Extender's for my PC running XP Media Center, but I could new get it to perform consistently. After a couple of weeks struggle, I decided to downgrade to a unit that only streamed music. That was my primary desire anyway. I wanted the ability to rip my CD's to hard disk and then stream them to my home stereo wirelessly.

Nerd Alert!The following paragraphs may bore some of you to death. Only those of like-minded geekdom will care or possibly enjoy it. Danny and I ran ethernet cable to the desk downstairs in the living room where my laptop sits. It is the computer with XP Media center installed. We did this because when I was attempting to install the Media Center Extender from Linksys it stated the unit would not support two wireless hops. One of the devices - either the PC or the Media Center Extender - had to been connected to the router via cable. In my case, the PC seemed the logical choice. Or at least it seemed at the time...

Suffice it to say running the cable unnecessarily turned into a multi-hour fiasco which could have been easily avoided. I could see my old man shaking his head as I made amateur mistake one after another. I'll spare you the gory details. If you'd need a laugh at my expense, ask me about it some day.

Back to the matter at hand, streaming wireless music to my stereo receiver. Hooked into my router via Ethernet, I have a Linksys Network Storage Link connected to a USB 2.0 Maxtor 300 gig drive. It supplied plenty of space to record my entire CD selection to the drive in .WMA format at 192 kbps.

It took endless hours sitting at the computer and ripping discs, but I finally managed to get them all to drive. I also took the time to catalog them using Catraxxx. It allowed me to move the CD's out of their jewel cases and into CD books. I placed the CD booklet and CD itself in the books. It allows me to get for CD and booklets per page. I was able to chunk the ugly CD racks, store the jewel cases in the attic, and consolidate my collection down to two books. I setup custom fields in Catraxxx that tell me exactly where any CD is - Book, Page, and Slot on that page.

Now that everything is in place, I can use the remote on for the MP-101 to pick any song in my collection by Album Title, Artist, Genre, or custom Playlist that I create. You can listen to your favorite albums, randomize from your entire collection, or listen to a single genre. The playlist support will be lots of phone when we have friends and family over, too.

It supports .M3U playlists, so I am able to create them out of Catraxxx. Since you can create any custom filter you need in Catraxxx, it allowed me to create several playlists in just a few minutes. I created several genre playlists to replace default genre that Windows Media Player pulled down while ripping the CD. 95% of the time, Media Player's choice was far too broad. Catraxxx uses GraceNote which seems to be much better in its categorization. Still not perfect, but far better than Media Player!

Well, enough geek talk for one evening. After all, I've got hours and hours of music to enjoy! More to come for the visitors seeking the pictures soon.