I don't exactly have time for a year in review (I haven't even picked out the music for our 2009 year in review video yet, which I usually release on Valentine's Day), but I didn't want an entire month to slide by without posting something, so here is a month in review.
First thing’s first: Leah continues to be the most wonderful baby ever. OK, I’m a bit biased, but it still amazes me how she changes (for the better) with each passing week. She now sits unassisted for long periods of time, is eating solid foods (cereal and squash), and can even help open presents! Speaking of which, I’m proud to say that when Leah opened her laptop for Christmas, she immediately put her hand on the attached mouse and started moving it around. This thing doesn’t do much and doesn’t even really have anything that could be mistaken for a “screen” but I’m happy to see that she has a natural talent for the mouse. We’re still working on the keyboard…
Speaking of computers, many of you likely know I lost mine earlier this month. As in, lost use of it, not misplaced it. This was the grand finale to the Year of Unexpected Replacements and Upgrades. I came home one morning and there was nothing on the monitor. A cold reboot did not help, and neither did removing most of the components. After some extensive troubleshooting, I narrowed it down to either the motherboard or CPU (with the former heavily favored). Since I built the computer in 2002, there was no getting just a new motherboard for it; all the sockets and slots have changed in the past seven years, so I also had to get new memory, a new graphics card, and a new CPU as well. When the new parts arrived, I put them and the remainder of my old computer (it was named Stalagmite) into a new case I had bought a couple of years back (I’ve been meaning to build a new computer “next year” for the past couple of years). It wasn’t long until I ran into issues; however, I soon narrowed the problem down to the motherboard or memory and replaced both. As of this week, I’m happy to report that my new computer Bluespring (in sticking with the cave theme, I named it after Bluespring Caverns) is up and running.
The holidays have been rather stress-free this year. For the first time since Karrie and I got married I haven’t had a gigantic video project with a Christmas deadline soaking up every second of my free time. We managed to get our Christmas shopping done somewhat early and Karrie even churned out several kinds of Christmas cookies. It was nice, as always, to see friends and family and our first Christmas with our daughter made it that much more special.
With the holidays in full swing (and the aforementioned computer issues), the basement hasn’t gotten much attention this month. I did manage to get the workshop side of the divider wall drywalled and the fire-rated door in said wall installed. I also took some time to organize things down there as a month of rummaging through the basement for holiday decorations and computer parts left it rather disheveled. We’re headed to New York tomorrow (yes, in the storm) for our final holiday gathering of the season; when we return I have two and a half days remaining to work on the basement before I return to work. I’ve already decided to postpone my February classes until the summer as my building permit runs out in April and I want to make damned sure I’m in my new office by then.
For those that will be staying up tonight, have a good time for us because Karrie and I will likely be in bed. I hope everyone stays safe and has a happy New Year.
