The past few days have been pretty busy for me with the work disaster recovery test going on. It was nice to be back in Philadelphia, as I really enjoy this city; I am always amazed at the beauty of City Hall and the Masonic Temple. However, this time, work did not afford me the opportunity to do any site seeing. The test went well though, in reality it went better than anticipated. The new LTO4 tape drive encryption I implemented went very smoothly. I was able to configure the TS3500 library to communicate with our TKLM server without any issues, which was a very pleasant surprise. Once that was done and the AIX boxes were built we brought up the TSM server, and i have to admit, once the server started reading the first encrypted tape to restore TSM’s database I was elated. Had we not been able to read the encrypted data on that tape we would have been in a world of trouble, especially since I had already moved the entire environments data to encrypted tapes. Once the TSM server was completely up and running all of the necessary restores ran really smooth, and as a bonus the new LTO4 tapes wrote the data back out faster than anticipated. In the end it was a successful test and a pretty decent validation of all my hard work to implement the new encryption method.
Category Archives: Family
Off to Philadelphia
Due to some unfortunate scheduling I had to cut my Father’s Day with Kylie short (dropped her back off at Mommy’s house around Noon) as I have to leave for a DR test in Philadelphia which starts tomorrow morning at 8am. My flight leaves at 1:45 which means I have to be to the airport by 1 the latest. I tried to get a later flight out so I would have more time to spend with Kylie, but the price went up by an additional $600 for the later flight, so sadly I am not able to postpone the flight any later. The only thing that makes it anywhere remotely ok is that Kylie has been with me since Thursday night, so I have had a good amount of time with her the last few days. So off I ago once again to Philadelphia, at least it is a city that I really enjoy being in.
Happy 5th Birthday Kylie!
I can not believe how fast time goes by! Today, Kylie, you are 5 years old! I look at you and see how big you are getting and it just amazes me. I still remember the day you were born, giving you your very first sponge bath right after with the nurse, holding you and looking into your beautiful eyes. I never knew how happy I could be until you were born. And now, five years have passed. Everyone told me it would go by quickly, but I just didn’t realize how fast it would truly be. I wish I had a way to slow down time and spend even more of it with you, building memories and having fun. I hope as you continue to grow you realize just how much everyone loves you and cares for you. Ever since your first day you have been a very happy and loving little girl, and I hope you continue to be happy, upbeat, and positive as you grow. The empathy and sympathy you display for others at such a young age always amazes me and makes me proud. I hope we can continue to provide you with all the opportunities and chances to explore all your hearts desires, either to continue with something you already know (like ballet) or to learn something completely new. Though I can’t wait to see what the next five years brings for you, and I greatly look forward to watching you grow, learn, and explore the world around you, I hope it doesn’t go by as fast the first five have.
Speaking of new things, today is the day you embark on learning something new. For the past few months you have shown increasing interest in Mommy’s violin, so Daddy got you your very first violin! A 1/8th Suzuki Violin complete with bow and hard case. You were very excited when you opened your eyes and saw the case in front of you. Soon you will be starting private lessons once a week which Mommy will help enforce during the week as you and her play together. I know Mommy is very excited to share in this experience with you, both to see you grow and play the very same instrument that she plays and to help her get back into playing as well. I hope that over the years this will be something the two of you can share and bond with. And, of course, I am very much looking forward to hear you play such a beautiful instrument!
On top of all this, today is an extra special birthday (for me at least) because it is also Father’s Day! A day that without you I would not have been able to celebrate for the last five years! This is something that only happens every few years and for me it is a very special treat! Today, like every Father’s Day, we went out to breakfast together, just as I used to do with my father. Today, though, instead of going to McDonald’s we went to Ihop and had some very yummy pancakes and eggs. On top of that you even got a free ice cream Sunday because you told the waitress it was your birthday! You thought it was very silly that you were having ice cream with breakfast, but you enjoyed it immensely.
This morning, with you, was such a blast! Happy Birthday Little Bit, We love you, whole bunches forever!
Last Day of Soccer
Today was the last day of soccer for the girls, and I can’t believe how fast it went by. The girls seemed to really have a lot of fun and they definitely got some good exercise running around. Kylie thinks she would like to play again given the opportunity, and I am very happy that she is interested in participating in sports. Hopefully she will continue to be active with sports and extracurricular activities as she continues to grow. The only downside to all this soccer though, is that it has been really hot and sunny, but plenty of water and sunblock takes care of that!
“SPF Daddy…The Sun never stood a chance.”
Crossroads Music Night
Another fun night at the Crossroads Music festival! We wanted to make sure we went tonight because the band Just Jill was playing again and we really enjoyed them last year, and this year was no exception! This band puts on a really good show and the music they perform is great. Additionally, for the second year in a row, the lead singer gave Kylie her tambourine again! Not only that but she even jumped down off stage and was dancing with Kylie too! A video of Kylie playing the tambourine can be found on the videos page or via this direct link, and a few pictures from the music can be found in Kylie’s Year 5 June album.
Soccer Showdown
This week was a special week for soccer as today was the only day that Kylie and Delaney’s teams played against each other. The girls were both excited to play together, though they were both seldom on the field at the same time. It was nice to spend the entire time of soccer on one field and be able to watch both girls play. A little sad though because now we only have one week of soccer left for the season. The girls both did very well however, and as usual they had a blast!
Special Day at School
This morning was a special morning for Kylie and her class. Today Mommy came to class and showed everyone her violin. She told them all about the different parts and what they do, and she even let those who wanted have an opportunity to play it. Kylie was very happy and proud to have her Mommy show her classmates something new and exciting. A video of the event can be found here, but be warned it is 14 minutes long.
Tonsillitis?
Instead of going to soccer this morning we had the joy of going to the doctors. Last night Kylie was seeing and at one point she turned to face Mommy just as she opened wide to sing “la” when Mommy thought she saw something odd. She asked Kylie to come closer and to open her mouth wide and say “ah” so she could look at her throat, and when she did she got one heck of a shock. Kylie’s throat was red and her tonsils were so swollen that they were almost touching her uvula. As is typical Kylie was not acting sick at all and had Mommy not noticed her throat while she was singing, we most likely would not have known anything was wrong. So first thing this morning we made an appointment to go and see the doctor. When we got there Kylie was still acting perfectly normal, bouncing around and playing and laughing as usual, and this continued on into the exam room. They performed all the normal checking; she weighed in at 48.5 lbs and her temperature was 98.8. The doctor looked into her ears (which showed no sign of infection) and also looked at her throat. He said that her throat is red and her tonsils are slightly swollen, but the strep test they performed came back negative, though they will know better by Monday morning if the full test grows any cultures. At this point he suspects that Kylie simply has a viral sore throat and that it will go away on its own, and that as of now we should simple treat her symptoms and make sure she drinks plenty of fluids. I guess we will just need to wait and see what the next few days bring.
One (maybe two) Down, More to go
Today I completed one of my new year resolutions, and I think that may be first for me. At the beginning of the year I listed out a few things I wanted to accomplish this year and some steps that I was (hopefully) going to take to achieve those things. Today I am proud to say that I have fully completed one of the goals that was actually measurable and had a solid ending point. This morning I finished reading the Bible; not only have I caught up (I was about a month behind at the beginning of the year) I have finished a day early. By no means did I understand and comprehend everything I read, nor do I now consider myself a biblical scholar, but I did learn a good deal of theology. Along the way I had some very good conversations with some friends (namely Rick Hale and Steve Thompson) that have and still do study the Bible, both Old and New Testaments and gained some interesting perspectives. Now that I think about it, this may actually count as two resolutions, the second being learning something new. Sweet, a two-for! In any event, it really was a good read, a very long and typically dry (to me) read, but good; there’s lots of information and wisdom in the Bible. Now that I am done with this maybe I’ll start on The Book of Mormon, or perhaps The Quran (Yes, I own copies of both).
Her First Recital
Tonight was Kylie’s first Ballet Recital, and we couldn’t be more proud of her! Kylie’s class was towards the end, so watching all the other kids perform their recitals (Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop) was a nice treat but really just kept me in suspense. I have seen Kylie and her class do their routine before, but not in their costumes and under the lights on stage. When it was finally Kylie’s class’ turn they were amazing! You could tell they were excited to be on stage and were having a blast. Afterward we waited in the hall while Mommy went to check Kylie out (security with the children was very strict to ensure the safety of all the kids, I was very happy about this), and as soon as I saw her I ran up to her and gave her a big hug and kiss! 
I did not get to see her before she went into the back (due to security once she was checked in she was not aloud back out until after the show and only the parent who checked her in could check her out, additionally no one was aloud in the back except those in the recital and those working it) because she was so excited for her “becital” that she said she wanted to go back and be with her class, of course I got there just a few minutes after this. So I was very excited to see her and tell her how proud I was and how wonderful she did. She received a lot of flowers, and even though Daddy’s wasn’t the biggest bouquet (Daddy knew she was going to receive a lot of flowers, so he kept it simple) those were the only ones she wanted to hold. That made me feel very very special. After recital we (Kylie, Mommy, Daddy, Melissa, Aunt Sissy, and Mimi) all went to Stroh’s for some very yummy ice cream to celebrate. I am very proud of you Kylie, and love you more than words could ever express.