Three people in the last three days have commented on the fact that I have not updated my site. As such I decided some sort of comment would be a good idea.
A whole lot has happened over the last month. The first thing I want to do is I wanted to comment on Costa Rica. The trip was fabulous, but the reason the experience was so exceptional was the people I met and talked to. My Spanish was very marginal, but I could usually figure out what they were saying. The kids were the hardest ones to talk to b/c they didn't understand that they needed to slow down and thought it was funny if I asked what they were trying to say. I've already decided I want to go back next year. The work was very hard, but very rewarding. It was all sorts of firsts for me. First time to use a passport. First time to really feel like I was in another country. First time to visit a prison. First time to pour concrete. Like I said... it was a great trip. I know it helped me feel more in touch with God than I had in a while. Unfortunately I know that feeling is fading b/c some of the politics of church have already kicked in again. I've been on a break from my church for a while. I need to find a new church, but right now I really don't want to look.
Work has kicked it up several levels. A couple of weeks ago I was tasked with someone else to head up all the technical aspects of the move for Benefit Harbor. We are moving out of the shared office space with one of our parent companies into our own office space. That means we need servers, a network and all the pieces in between. Huge task in an area I'm not completely comfortable. On top of that, they keep changing when they want to move and where we are going to move to. I've purchased a book on Cisco networking and have been reading it. I'm still a long ways off from being an expert, but I'm starting to understand what will be needed. It's just getting the money and the time to do it all.
On top of that we have several enrollments starting so I have spent as much time as possible researching around the time that I have to code. But I have learned all sorts of things about Windows Server 2003, Redhat Enterprise Linux, firewalls, switches, and battery backup.
Jiu-Jitsu is going well. Rick told me last night that I could expect my yellow belt soon. I'm excited about that, but surprised to get it so early. At the same time I could be a yellow belt for a long time.
