Weeks of December 17 - December 30

Good:

1. We learned that Jen's sister is expecting in July. We are so excited for her and Ben. Having Keegan has been amazing. We are extremely happy for their fortune.

2. We had a great stay with everyone and were glad to see so many friends and family.

3. Jen and I enjoyed the break that the Peek-a-boos provided. It was nice to sleep in for a week!

Bad:

1. We had to miss the babies for a couple weeks. Robby and Donna were great and kept them full and cleaned their garage area. The cats were in great spirits upon our return.

2. Traveling with small child is very difficult. I don't know how Jen managed all by herself in August. Keegan was an angel however the number of bags and getting situated on the plane was very challenging.

3. We have three units to go. Hopefully I'll be able to get them taken care of the first week of the year.

Week of December 10, 2007

Good:
1. Jen, Keegan, and I went to Steve and Kelly’s annual Christmas Party. It was really fun this year. There were a bunch of kids. The kids were playing and going nuts and have a great time – and then around 2:00PM all the kids started to get cranky and needed a nap.
2. We went down to the Beach for Pizza on Friday and ran into Neil, Kelly and Dana. Kelly was doing really well – despite being due in a couple weeks. The following night we went to Downtown Melbourne for some last minute Christmas shopping. It was really neat because the stores were open until 9:00PM and they had Carolers and cookies. I told Jen that Juicy would have loved it.
3. Jen, Donna, and Yami got together for their Christmas version of Girls night out on Wednesday. The next day Jen went to the SeaPines Christmas Party.

Bad:
1. We didn’t ship any units and I had to work on Saturday. I’m not sure I need to say much more than that. We are close though.
2. Keegan had a possible teething episode. He woke up after a couple hours of sleep crying. Jen was able to calm him down – but it took a while.
3. Juicy lost it on Ebony this week. I hate when he does this – especially so close to when we aren’t going to be around. They seemed to have licked and made up.

Week of December 3, 2007

Good:
1. The family went to a really awesome party thrown by Neil and Kelly. They were celebrating Kelly's graduation from Law School, Christmas, and their upcoming creation. As always they went all out with the food. It was great visiting. We had to leave a little early - Keegan was getting a little fussy - but he had fun too!
2. Robby posted his latest production to utube. I mention this because he stopped by a couple nights to borrow our high speed Internet. While his movie was uploading we visited. It was nice because I don't get to see him that much. Keegan wasn't too sure. He cried the first night when he saw Robby. Robby didn't take it personally.
3. We got Keegan another present - a Ball Popper. He's starting to get bored with his exersaucer - or at least the toys on it. Hopefully he'll take to this new toy.

Bad:
1. We continued our work to clean up the hurricane room and the spill over into the guest bedroom. It is going well - still a little farther from being finished than I would like - but we are getting there. Another weekend and it should at least be presentable for the near term.
2. Brian F. whom I worked for on my current program before Dave took over in July went up to New Jersey to take a 3 month field assignment. I would guess that Brian is 55. Anyway he had a brain aneurysm. Apparently he has regained conscience - but that is all the details that I have. Our prayers are with him and his family.
3. We have 6 more units to go. 2 are basically done. 1 of the last 4 that I got on Thursday doesn't work! So that will keep me busy this week.

Week of November 26, 2007

Good:
1. Tim and Shannon had Shelby!!!!! Both mother and Daughter are doing well. We stopped by on Wednesday and everyone was good – tired – but good. We were really excited for them.
2. Keegan got two front teeth – kind of. They poked through his gums. He took it pretty well. He was very uncomfortable last Sunday night. Jen had to go to the store to get some oral gel and that seemed to help a little. Anyway when we woke up the next day he was fine and had two teeth.
3. We got 3 units that are very close to shipping. They should go out early next week. Each unit is a battle. After these three we have four more.


Bad:
1. The customer was in for some testing. It went reasonably well. We also had a special test on Friday. It involved me working like a mad man on Thursday and staying pretty late and coming in early the next morning. We had a couple hiccups – but all things considered it went very well – the customer was pleased so that was good.
2. I started a mini-project of cleaning up the hurricane room. I moved the wood part of the pool table out to the garage. It was really rather difficult – but I was pleased with how it turned out. I stacked it on the crate for the marble slab. I also wrapped it in plastic to try and protect it. I did measure and the family room could actually fit the pool table – based on the guidelines for room size. Jen said – “Yeah but where would we watch TV.” She has a point – but maybe one day – I’ve always wanted a pool table.
3. Keegan continues to move around a lot and Jen has to check in on him. I wish I had gotten the video monitor. That way Jen could quickly check on Jen without having to get up. Last night Jen checked on Keegan 7 times. Maybe I can find something on ebay.

Week of November 19, 2007

Good:
1. Jen and I really enjoyed Keegan’s first Thanksgiving. We had a laid back day. Jen made a really great dinner and Keegan enjoyed his Sweet Potato Soufflé.
2. Jeff, Erica, and Brandon stopped by Melbourne on their way back to North Carolina. It was really great getting to visit and see how everyone was doing. This was our first time meeting Brandon – he is very cute and well behaved. It was interesting to notice the similarities between Brandon and Keegan who are close in age.
3. Keegan appears to be getting his first tooth. Jen thinks by next week we’ll have something to put on the web page.

Bad:
1. Black Friday - I didn’t have to wait in line over night like last year. We did head out early that morning – at least early for us. It was nice to get out but we didn’t see any must haves. Jen picked up a newspaper on Thursday and we both looked through it and had the same comment. We got a couple presents but that was it.
2. Keegan has been a little restless overnight. He ends up waking Jen several times a night. This is causing Jen to get really worn out. She’s been trying to take a nap when Keegan does. It has helped a little. Hopefully Keegan will grow out of this phase shortly.
3. Our TIVO box is on the fritz. It will freeze up every now and then. It feels like it is just a matter of time before it goes. This is the 3rd box – crazy.

Week of November 12, 2007

Good:
1. My boss was out of town. He is pretty laid back anyways but it is still nice to have that little break in pressure.
2. Believe it or not but Jen and Keegan got a bunch of their Christmas shopping done. I haven’t gotten but one thing. I am really behind the 8-Ball!
3. We got lucky and were able to make Plane and Hotel Reservations for Christmas. After the Clearwater trip I realized this was something I needed to do. Keegan is great but I’m not sure we all would have made it up North if we had driven! I also made hotel reservations while we are in PA. It will be nice because we can visit the lights at Hershey and Keegan will have a steady routine.

Bad:
1. Jen and Keegan had several nights of bad sleep. Keegan’s schedule is still a little messed from Day Light Savings. He wants to get up at 7:00AM. Jen’s trying to train him otherwise.
2. I had to work on Saturday. It wasn’t too bad however I would have preferred having off. This was so that I would have Thanksgiving off.
3. Jen set up the Christmas tree and it is nice because it is starting to feel a little more like Christmas. I think we will decorate the tree this weekend. I know this isn’t a bad thing – I just couldn’t think of one and needed a third thing.

Week of November 5, 2007

Good:
1. We went to SeaWorld with Bryan and Katie and had a really good time. Keegan really enjoyed it. He liked being around other little kids too. He flirted with a couple little girls that were sitting behind us during the dolphin show. It was really cute to see him interact with them.
2. We had dinner several evenings in Clearwater. The second night we ate on the beach at this place that had live music. It was a really great nice, the food was good, the weather was good, and the conversation was great.
3. We went to this place called Tarpon Springs. It was really neat. I had never heard of it before – but Jen had. It was this really need Greek town. It had a lot of charm.

Bad:
1. Keegan had a stressful car ride when we went over to Clearwater. It was a bit of a drive – about 3 hours. He really was good – however after about 2 hours he had his limit. This makes me a little weary about our trip at Christmas. I’m not sure how well it will go – but we’ll figure it out.
2. Being on vacation is great but it also messed up everyone’s schedule. We are looking forward to getting back into a routine – although I will miss getting to spend so much time with Keegan. He is so cute.
3. Jen had to stop by work to fill out some forms. She’s going to have to work a couple Sundays to stay in the SeaPines system. It is pretty good timing. Keegan is old enough to hang out with his Daddy for the day without it being to stressful for everyone.

Week of October 29, 2007

Good:
1. Jen and I really enjoyed Keegan’s first Halloween. I’m not sure he knew what was going on but we took him to a couple houses in our neighborhood. He looked really cute.
2. Jen got some good deals on Halloween clearance items for next year. In addition to that Jen found Keegan a jacket for our trip up at Christmas. The jacket cost $4 – it was originally ~$40!
3. Jen went out on Monday evening with Yami and Donna. They went for dinner down at Island Pasta. They had a really nice time.

Bad:
1. Keegan’s face is broken out because he continues to drool. Now that he’s drinking apple juice and eating other acidic fruits it is bothering his skin.
2. Two lab units that we shipped out had some pins that were recessed. They were non-functional pins so it wasn’t a big deal. The customer accepted them but they weren’t super happy about it.
3. A house on our street has a price listed at only $150K. It actually seems like a nice house from the outside. I think they are being hurt because there are several houses for sale around it. Those houses for sale don’t have anyone living in them and the yards of those houses look terrible.

Week of October 22, 2007

Good:
1. We had our annual Halloween Party. We had a really nice evening. Ever year it is a mad dash to the finish line. This year was slightly better. We still worked until the last minute – but it was less rushed and the issues we worked were minor details. The new buffet worked out really well. It kept all the Hot food Hot. As well my slightly used GI-Joe shirt that I bought on Ebay worked really well too. Jen did a fantastic job with the food and she looked really great in her Tinkerbelle outfit.
2. We were able to get a unit sold off and began HALT Testing. So far it has gone well. We’ve been able to keep testing without too many issues.
3. Jen went to the Children’s Place and saw a good deal. She found 4 items of clothes for Keegan marked down from $45 to $36. When she went to pay she was shocked when they rang up to only $3.45 – apparently they were on clearance too!

Bad:
1. So I don’t weed wack as often as I should – heck I don’t cut the grass as often as I should. Well before having everyone over for the Halloween party I decided I needed to week wack. It has been probably a month since I’ve weed wacked. Anyway I couldn’t get it started. I don’t know how many times I ripped that cord – my arm hurts today. Anyway after some keen detective work I determined that I most likely needed fresh gas. I’ve had the same gas for about 4 years and figured that the manual that said not to let the gas go for more than 30 days was finally catching up with me. That did the trick and I was able to get the property in shape.
2. Jen went through a big ordeal to get Chico to agree to send her a new umbrella stroller. Well we got it – which is good – but it isn’t the right color. In stead of trying to fight the system we’re going to deal with a wobbly wheel sometimes and a green stroller sometimes – depending on the situation.
3. Keegan hasn’t been sleeping well. He’s been waking up every couple of hours. He’s really moving around in the crib. When we go in and check in on him he’s turned side ways and his body is all contorted, very odd.

Week of October 15, 2007

Good:

1. We got invited to Robby's Movie's movie priemer on Friday Night. The movie is called "Playing with Fire". I made a guest appearance as a dead person. The movie was really good. So good in fact he won the competition and will have his movie shown on the Big Screen at the Melbourne Film Festival.

2. At work we pushed through a couple issues and finally got 4 units on Thursday night to test.

3. Jen and I are preparing for the Halloween Party on Saturday. We are really looking forward to it. We've gotten a couple more decorations this year. It should be a really good time.

Bad:

1. Keegan did really well at his doctor's visit, however it is always diffficult when you see your child get stuck with a bunch of needles. He checked out okay - with the exception of head size.

2. So we got the unit on Thursday night. I ended up staying very late at work and came in very early on Friday. I ended up only getting 3 hours of sleep. That's tough to recover from.

3. Jen has had a headache the last couple of days. Hopefully it will go away soon. I keep telling her to drink water.

Week of October 8, 2007

Good:

1. Keegan was baptised today - in addition to that it was his 6th month birthday. The church service was great, Keegan was good. We also had a nice breakfast afterwards with my parents and sister. We followed that up with singing Keegan Happy Half Birthday.

2. We got Keegan's pictures taken by Misty at Lifestyles. She did an amazing job. He looks so cute in his in all white Baptism outfit as well as his little Santa outfit.

3. Jen received her new Vera Bradley diaper bag. This bag is a Christmas present. She did a great job of picking it out. I liked it.

Bad:

1. We were hoping to hear back for Chico about the stroller. Hopefully we'll be able to give them a call next week.

2. The team of cats did not enjoy when we decided to eliminate the breakfast water cup in the bathroom. As well we moved their food and water to the laundry room. Juice took it as a bit of a demotion. I think they will adjust.

3. I've been feeling a bit run down the last couple of weeks. Hopefully I can get back on track.

Week of October 1, 2007

Good:

1. At work we were able to resume EMI testing after the initial failure we had. The fix seems to have resolved the problem so hopefully the rest of the testing will go as well.

2. Keegan is eating bananas, apple sauce, squash and carrots. He's doing really well. I fed him this morning and it is impressive how he now opens his mouth expecting the food.

3. Jen set up a play date for Keegan next week. She ran into a friend that used to work at Sea Pines whom just had her second child. I think that will be good for both Keegan and Jen.

Bad:

1. We had an okay time at the Harris Family Fun day. Something always seems to get in the way of us really enjoying the event. This year it was extremely windy so it made it difficult to picnic - things wanted to blow away. In addition Jen and Keegan had a long week so they were tired.

2. I'm getting very tired of Ebony. She is addicted to the "breakfast" water cup in our bathroom. She cries at our bedroom door when we are sleeping. When we are in the bathroom she cries pretty much the entire time we are in there because she wants the water cup filled to very top. Jen topped off the cup three times the other evening while she brushed her teeth.

3. The temperature warmed back up. We had hoped it cooled off enough to enjoy open windows - not quite yet.

Week of September 24, 2007

Good:

1. We have a very nice Sunday Morning. At church the woman who used to lead the praise team was back - for one Sunday only. It is amazing how much of a difference she makes. We sang all our favorite songs, we didn't get confused what line we were on - it was really great. In addition to that the weather is beautiful today. We opened the windows! I was really suprised when I went out to the car this morning. I'm not sure how long it will last but we'll enjoy today. At Jen's suggestion we went to Jason's Deli for breakfast. I didn't realize that they had breakfast - it was good. All round a really great Sunday morning.

2. Jen order and received Keegan's new car seat. She got a great deal - it was on closeout. We put it in Jen's car yesterday and rode Keegan around in it. He loves it. He also loves that he can now ride in the Campster.

3. Our Qual testing is going pretty well. We have made it half way through temp/alt with only one issue that is not a big deal. Hopefully we can make it through the rest without any more issues. We seemed to have the EMI failure resolved - however we still need to close out some paper work - which will be a little bit of a pain. Our covers did come in on Tuesday so my co-worker - "won" the bet. It did come down to the wire though. It looked like it wasn't going to happen so he had to reveal to the machine shop that he made the bet. They had an employee make a special trip to the paint shop and then to Harris to get it to us before we closed our doors for the day.

Bad:

1. I had to go to the doctor to get a couple ailments checked out. The visit turned out okay. I have another apt to get that cyst re-removed from my arm in November.

2. The new tv shows came out this week. Jen is very dissapointed that the House staff doesn't appear to be the same. She's afraid that she'll have to adapt to a new cast. She's also dissapointed that new episodes of Smallville are on.

3. Tag got stuck in the garage.

Week of September 17, 2007

Good:

1. We had a very exciting moment - Keegan rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time. He only goes in one direction. It it kind of funny now because as soon as you put him on his belly he immediately rolls over. So much for tummy time. Keegan also began eating bananas - or at least banana mush. I got the opportunity to feed him a couple of times. He's getting the hang of it.

2. We shipped our first two flight units and began qual testing. We did have a qual failure - which we are working through. It doesn't seem too bad. So far so good.

3. Jen received Keegans' umbrella Stroller. It is really nice - we have so much more room in the trunk - its great.

Bad:

1. Keegan needed the bullet again. With the solid food introduction we also started to give Keegan some water - so hopefully this will help. Keegan also sometimes whimpers in his sleep. I guess he's dreaming - I'm not sure - but it is tough to watch. I guess it is normal.

2. We had a disagreement with someone at work. The program manager and myself were on the same page but this fellow - who is about 10 years my senior - felt very passionate about a position. His personality tends to be a bit more of a risk taker however in this situation he has little accountability. Anyway our program manager agreed to go with his fellow's recommendation provided he be willing to donate half a week's salary to a charity if the fellow's position did not turn out. Based on the terms of the bet I believe that he has technically already lost. Tuesday will be the major gate for the bet. Personally I hope the guy wins because then I won't have a mess to clean up if it doesn't pan out.

3. Jen had a headache one evening and took some Tylenol PM. She was pretty groggy the next day. She feels back to herself now - which is great.

4. The cats also broke into the garage. Jen discovered Juice and Ebony sitting the car with Tag on top.

5. Terps lost in OT.

Week of September 10, 2007

Good:
1. Jen, Keegan, and I decided to take off work on Thursday and spend the night in Orlando. We stayed at the Embassy Suites Lake Buena Vista – near Disney. They let us check in early – around noon. We put on our bathing suits and had lunch at the pool side bar and grill. It was very relaxing. We then took a dip. It was nice because they had an indoor/outdoor pool. We were able to take Keegan in the indoor pool where it was a littler cooler. After that we went to Downtown Disney and walked around. We got Keegan a “My first Christmas” ornament. The next day we got up late and wandered over to the outlets and Babies R Us. We had a long day and didn’t get home until 7:00PM or so. It was nice to get away – even if for just a couple days.
2. Keegan ate Rice Cereal on his 5 month B-day. I tried to put the video on the web site – without much luck. I have to send it out the old fashioned way. He actually did really well.
3. Jen told me the highlight of her week was ordering the umbrella stroller without having to pay for shipping. I’ll be glad to see it show up too. It will be nice to have something lighter to lug around.
4. Seth and Maria got a contract on their house. We saw Seth yesterday and he seemed relieved. We are happy for them. He thought they would settle in about a month.

Bad:
1. Despite my best efforts to take the entire weekend off, I trotted into work on Saturday. I could have skipped but the team was having some trouble and I could help so I felt I should be there. We are still working to try and get these two units out that were due several weeks ago.
2. I don’t know if it was the vacation or Keegan was dehydrated or what but Jen had to pull out the Bullet on Friday. It worked – I’ll leave it at that.
3. Terps lost to West Virginia – nuff said.

Week of September 3, 2007

Good:

1. The Best part of the week was Jen and Keegan's return. I really missed them and was really glad that they were home. I told them they aren't allowed to leave me home again.

2. We successfully shipped the switch on Friday. Hopefully we will know next week if it will work for the customer.

3. Jen and Keegan enjoyed their visit to Maryland and PA. They enjoyed visiting with Great-Grandmom Brown, Labor Day Party at 2nd Cousin Jenn and Wade's House, car show, and the Saturday afternoon picnic.

Bad:

1. We did not make our delivery for the file server. I worked at least 76 hours last week and a bunch of hours this weekend and we still have one cold problem. We did resolve several other cold issues but we still are trying to figure out the latest one. I'm not sure I have an easy answer.

2. We had a couple hard rains the past couple of weeks and I noticed that the carpet got damp in a couple places. I think we need to repaint the house. I had heard that this is a common problem. The builders put too thin of a layer of exterier paint. Jen will be looking at swatches shortly.

3. Keegan and Jen's feet got bit when we took a walk earlier this week. I'm not sure what kind of insect made these bites.

Week of August 20, 2007

Good:
1. Jen went over to SeaPines on Friday to visit with everyone as well as a couple old friends Jen and Joni - who stopped over to visit as well. Unfortunately Keegan didn’t exactly cooperate so Jen and Keegan had to leave a little early.
2. Neil and Kelly found out that they are having a girl. We are really excited for them. Their dog Gauss (http://gausspontificates.blogspot.com/) seemed really excited as well.
3. The software team was successful in selling off their software. They had a couple touch and go moments throughout the week but it turned out well. They worked very hard and we celebrated with a Pizza Party on Friday. It was fun.

Bad:
1. Thursday afternoon Keegan came down with a little fever. It lasted through the evening however it broke and had passed by the next Morning. The poor little guy was very warm and just wasn’t himself. I felt really bad he had sweated so much we had to change his clothes. I told Keegan that we wasn’t allowed to get sick. Apparently that worked because he was better the next day.
2. I felt a little under the weather on Saturday. It wasn’t terrible – my throat was scratchy and I was a tired. I feel better today so hopefully I beat this.
3. Juicy is very upset that Jen and Keegan are leaving. He can tell – mostly because of the big packed suitcase in our bedroom. I’m not sure if he can tell though that I’m staying behind. I’m sure he would be much more relaxed if he knew that.

Week of August 13, 2007

Good:
1. Jen was driving past an antique toy store and noticed they were selling a used jogging stroller. We decided to go check it out on Saturday. First we realized that it didn’t really seem to be an antique or a toy. If it was an antique – it was a nice antique. They were asking $59 bucks for this guy. It is a Schwinn – its German – the Porsche of jogging strollers. The front break needs to be tweaked. I’ll have to see if I can get some help adjusting that. Anyway we were able to get it for an even $50. I can’t wait to take it for a spin. On a side note – of course we decided to celebrate the purchase by going to Cold Stone Creamery to get some ice cream.
2. We got the switch back from manufacturing and ran it hot and cold so far so good. The customer is coming to our work on Tuesday to check our progress – among other things. We are planning to take a trip to California the week of September 10 to help them integrate it. So it really has to be ready to go by then.
3. Personally I think Jen is beautiful, amazing, the love of my life so I love her just the way she it but she is excited that she only has 6 more lbs to lose to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight.
4. Our friends Rob and Tonya – who live in Kentucky – are due in March. We are really excited for them.

Bad:
1. We took Keegan to the doctor to get his 4 month shots. They gave him 3 needles in the leg and make him drink some sweet medicine. It was really tough to watch our little boy get stuck like that. He was rather uncomfortable. Jen was proactive this time and gave him baby Tylenol to make sure he didn’t get a fever. He was tough and did really well, though he his little legs were swollen last night. He’s seems better today – Saturday. In addition to the shots the doctor confirmed that his head is small. She wasn’t overly concerned that his head was small though she didn’t like that the space between the growth plates on the top of his head was a little small. There’s not much we can do except monitor his developmental progress. He seems really aware to me, he improves every day. I really think that it helps Jen stays home and interacts with him. That’s about the most we can do.
2. Jan (Jen’s alter ego that comes out while she sleeps) needs a night guard. Apparently Jan grinds her teeth at night so that is causing Jen’s teeth to be more sensitive than normal. Stress is a (rhymes with witch) . . .
3. I had to go to work late on Thursday night – from 11:30PM to about 2:00AM. I had to run some thermal tests for the switch. I had to be back at work by 9:00AM the next morning. We are running continual thermal tests through out the weekend. I “volunteered” for Friday. Tena volunteered for Saturday and Tam for Sunday. Hopefully all will go well. My shift went well. But my schedule it kind of messed up now. I had to take some WallQuil – that’s wallmart’s version of Nyquil to get settled down.

Week of August 6, 2007

Note to readers:

As you can see the web site now has a sponser. It was interesting to see that our plumbing story generated enough interest for advertising. Why did I decided to allow advertising? It is not for the money. It takes 50,000 hits to the web site to generate $1. At most I think the site gets about 10 unique hits a week. That means it will take 500 weeks or ~10 years to get one dollar. I decided to allow advertising to support Google. I don't have to pay anything in order to publish this site and they seem to keep the posts around for quite some time. Anyway that's the reason.

Good:

1. The drain is now unplugged. We went to Home Depot - which had a much better selection of snakes. We got a 25' rooter. It has a hand crank on the top. It worked much better than the original drill driven snake - although it cost twice as much. I won't tell you the rest of the story but the bottom line is that we can now use the shower in the master bathroom!

2. We fired up the Switch Friday. It took us a little while to get it up and running - basically about 1 day. So far so good. We still have a bunch of testing to complete but we were all excited about our progress so far.

3. Tim, Shannon, and Bryce had us over for a cook out. It was good - in fact it was like Christmas. They gave us all of Bryce's old clothes because they found out they are having a girl. We were excited for them and it really helps getting a leg up in the clothes department.

Bad:

1. Jen hasn't felt 100% the last couple of days. There was a woman at my work that had come down with something. I felt a little bad myself - my throat dripped a little and I had a headache. Jen had the same sympotms but I think they bothered her a little more.

2. We found out at work the flexes for the box due 9/4 are not going to come in until the 8/20 and 8/21. That really does not give us much time at all to finish building the two boxes by 9/4. We will be sprinting to the end.

3. Keegan cut his little toe. Jen took him outside and he pushed off on the side walk and scraped his little toe. It really isn't that bad but he keeps kicking off the bandaide.

Week of July 30, 2007

Good:

1. The File Server successfully passed Risk Reduction Vibe Testing. We only tested one unit however that provides hope that we will be successfull when we go into Qual testing. The door latch still isn't great - we need to fix that design. However that will have to wait and be a product improvement for the future.

2. Keegan seems to be eating on a much more regular schedule - about 4 times a day. He typically eats between 6 and 8 ounces at a time.

3. Jen and Keegan made arrangements for a trip up to PA - from August 28th to September 4th. I'm not real happy because I will miss them however it is good timing. We have two sets of deliveries one for the 4th and the other for the 7th so I'll be busy. It will be nice for Jen and Keegan to visit with everyone up north.

Bad:

1. In addition to the vibe testing we completed thermal risk reduction testing. We identified a problem at cold and at hot. We were able to make a modification to some code to fix the hot problem. The cold problem we're not so sure about. We've decided to screen the next handful of cards before building them all up. I tested another unit at cold and it did not have the same cold problem. It is possible that a solder joint crack could be the cause which is a manufacturing defect - not a design defect.

2. Jen has been feeling a little tired. It has been helpful with Keegan sleeping so late however Jen does get up a couples times a night to put his bink back in this mouth. It will get better - plus she has gotten to sleep in the last couple of days.

3. Jen got another snake for the bathroom and it broke as well. Last night I got another type all together. If this doesn't work I'll have to call the plumber.

Week of July 23, 2007

Good:
1. As you can see in the picture attached to this week we went to a retro Birthday Party. It was the 15th anniversary of the birthday girl's 15 birthday. We had a really nice time. It was funny seeing everyone dressed up. We - in my personal opinion - looked the best. I have to admit that I looked a little fruity - but if you are going to wear a New Kids on the Block Tee - you might as well go all out.
2. When I asked Jen what was on her good list she immediately said "Keegan sleeping through the night for the whole week!" Forget about item number 3.
3. Seth and Maria welcomed their son Blake into the world on Wednesday. We stopped by and they seemed like they were doing well. As we now know this is quite a transition and a diffcult time but I'm sure the seasoned veterans will do quite well.

Bad:
1. Jen and Keegan got suck at Wallmart for 3 hours on Thursday because of a bad storm. I previously have told Jen that Keegan is not allowed to go to the Palm Bay Wallmart. He doesn't need to be exposed to that craziness - however she continues to ignore me.
2. Our shower drain has been clogged for a couple weeks. I first tried draino. I put that stuff in there for 5 straight days and it did about nothing. Finally we bought a snake. I thought I was doing pretty good because I pulled out what I thought was a small mouse about 10 feet down. I went to put it back down the drain and the end of the snake attached to the drill busted into 100 pieces. I THEN looked at the directions - it said leave 1/8th inch gap between the end of the snake and the drill. Anyway the drain is still clogged and we need to get another snake.
3. Jen and I decided a couple weeks ago that we wanted to change peds from Dr. Whitte to Dr. Ware - they share the same office. We had seen Dr. Ware more times than we had seen Dr. Whitte and we just seemed to click a little better. Anyway I called and asked if we could have Keegan switched a couple weeks ago and they said sure. Well this week we got a call saying that they wouldn't switch him. The doctors had an agreement to not "steal" patients. It was a little uncomfortable and could have worked out a little better.

Week of July 16, 2007

Good:
1. We took the trip over to Florida Mall on Friday – it was my scheduled Friday off. Anyway we had a really nice time walking around. We grabbed lunch and Jen got a watch. It’s really fun and casual. We also got to check out an iphone – they had a store at the mall and it seemed pretty amazing.
2. Our late 80’s/early 90’s outfits for next week’s party are really coming together. I think we are about there. I can’t wait to take a picture and put it on the web site. It has been fun putting them together. Jen’s idea was really great and I’m a little embarrassed to admit that one of the items I will be wearing is from my closet. Jen has barred me from wearing this item but I hadn’t wanted to get rid of it unless it came back in style.
3. We went to the gym twice this past week as a family. Keegan did great at wee fit. The first day we went for only 30minutes because we were concerned about Keegan but he did fine. It was funny because Keegan goes #2 about once a day and sometimes that is assisted. Anyway Jen had fed him, changed him, . . . tried to make it so that they wouldn’t have to do much. Anyway when we went to pick him up they said he did great and that he had a big poop. Jen was a little embarrassed – I thought it was great since I didn’t have to change it. The kid has good timing.

Bad:
1. Keegan was extremely fussy on Saturday. It rained here so I couldn’t just throw him in the stroller and take him for a walk. Finally we had to take him to the mall and walk around. This worked well and gave us a break. We even stopped at one point and sat on a couch there for about 30 minutes and he was fine. Although as soon as we got home though he was fired up.
2. We have had very violent weather Friday Evening and Saturday afternoon. They said that there were about 2000 lightening strikes in Brevard in one hour yesterday. I don’t think anyone was hurt however a house worth $500K got struck and burned down.
3. Keegan through up some yellow stuff the other day. It was pretty gross. He didn’t really do it again – so that was good.

Week of July 9, 2007

Good:
1. We found at that our friends Neil, Kelly, and Dana are expecting in December/January time frame. We are very excited for them. We shared pizza and ice cream with them on Friday Night down at the beach it was fun after a long week.
2. We got the buffer cards shipped on Friday. This is very good. Hopefully they will get to Raytheon and work as expected.
3. We had a nice Saturday. We went up to the Zoo and saw the butterfly exhibit. It was good and we went and saw a couple other animals. Unfortunately our day was cut a little short by the rain - but we had fun running through it to get to the car.

Bad:
1. I could be wrong but I think Keegan may have caught the brown eye syndrome. This is where your eyes turn from blue to brown. Anyway, Jen and I are still holding out hope - but there is not much we can do.
2. Jen was unable to attend the memorial service for Dr. Olsson's daughter. It was Wednesday afternoon. It was difficult to arrange someone to watch Keegan. This is something we'll have to get used to.
3. We have about 150 diapers that Keegan has grown out of - more specifically his thighs have grown out of. No problem though I'm sure we can sell them at Robby and Misty's next yard sale.

Week of July 2, 2007

Good:
1. We had a really nice Fourth of July. My parents are visiting so Jen and I got to take a nap while my parents watched Keegan. As well we watched the Fire Works from afar. Keegan was really brave - he seemed to enjoy them - or at least being outside.
2. Keegan "slept" to around 5:00AM without needing to be fed the last two nights. He got up a couple of times however so Jen sat with him until he went back to sleep. He did this two days in a row. Hopefully he is on the right track.
3. We've had a nice time visiting with my parents. They rented this condo/town house on the beach. We've gone over there in the afternoon and sat out by the pool. Very relaxing.

Bad:
1. A doctor from Jen's work had a bad car accident after work on Thursday. He was okay however his 19 year old daughter was killed. We had a terrible rain storm and apparently he lost control of his car when it hydroplaned and he hit a telephone pole. Just really terrible.
2. Keegan has needed the help of the "bullet" to go #2. Hopefully he will adjust to the formula. It has to be tough for the little guy.
3. We heard that Heidi the dog died. It aways sucks loosing a pet.

Week of June 25, 2007

Good:
1. Jen made the two of us a fantastic dinner. She’s been watching take home chef and really picked up some great ideas. It was really nice and Keegan cooperated – at least during dinner.
2. We signed up for NetFlixs. We got our first couple of movies and have enjoyed it. I’m not sure we’ll carry it past the summer but it is really great so far.
3. Keegan seems to be talking a lot more. He seemed to respond to our cooing which is really neat.

Bad:
1. We found that the MDIO implementation is a little suspect at work. In addition we have some EMI failures that will require some modifications.
2. Jen is feeling better but she still has some milk left. Hopefully it will dry up in a couple more weeks.
3. We are getting close to the magic 12 week mark. I’m not convinced Keegan will be sleeping through the night by then but that would be great.

Week of June 18, 2007

Good:
1. Jen and I had a very nice date on Saturday Evening. We went up to the Melting Pot. Afterwards we walked around the Avenues and took in a movie. Though we missed Keegan it was nice to have a couple of moments to ourselves.
2. Jen’s mom is visiting. She had a safe flight and has enjoyed her time with Keegan. We appreciate the brake – especially the 3:00AM feeding.
3. I got the opportunity to work on my companies' Habitat for Humanity House this weekend. We raked the entire yard and laid down sod. It is a really a great thing for my company to contribute and encourage their employees to participate in.

Bad:
1. Jen was hurting pretty bad this week as she is now allowing her milk supply to dry up. She’s handled it really well however it is still painful for her.
2. I had to miss a day and a half from work this week to help out Jen as she’s going through this transition. I probably should have worked this weekend to catch up however I spent that time at the Habitat house. I need to get a bunch of loose ends tied up.
3. Keegan had to go to the doctors to get his shots. In addition they took all the critical growth measurements. He did very well on weight and length however he didn’t do well on head size. Hopefully his head is small because he’s still catching up. We will know better at his next visit. The doctor didn’t seem too concerned but I am a little.

Week of June 11, 2007

Good:
1. Jen and I spent Wednesday evening down at the Beach with Keegan and followed that up with a visit to the mall. I took off work early. Jen had a rough night and day with Keegan so it was nice to get out of the house and take a breather while Keegan slept in the back seat.
2. Keegan got to enjoy his first experience with a Pool. Jen bought him an inflatable pool. We were sitting outside on Saturday soaking in the sun and to our surprise Keegan asked if he could go swimming. We said sure and Jen blew up the pool - much fun followed.
3. Tim and Shannon stopped by last night to visit. Shannon watched and fed Keegan while they were here. It was nice to visit and it was nice to have a couple moment of fun.

Bad:
1. Keegan continues to not sleep more that 4 hours at a time and can be a little fussy during the day. Again he'll have a good day followed by a bad day. It is the good days that keep us going.
2. I got the Campster back and it works now which is great - but the battery didn't drain for them. After taking the Campster back I realized that I had turned everything off on the ride over (radio/ac/ . . .) and I think the radio antenna might be the problem. I haven't been turning the radio on and the battery continues to hold up. It is a good thing I don't have a long ride to work.
3. Jen is a real champ and continues to pump despite the pain.

Week of June 4, 2007

Good:
1. We went down to the beach on Friday night for pizza and to watch the shuttle launch. It was a beautiful evening. As well we rented a movie called Music and Lyrics. It was cute.
2. We finally replaced the light bulb above the front door on the outside. It was difficult and on a bad note I couldn’t get the screw back in without some acrobatics. Jen suggested I just press fit the plastic housing. So I did, we’ll see how long it lasts.
3. We were able to take the Camster over to the garage. They confirmed there is a short. They said they would get back to me next week.

Bad:
1. I cut the grass on Saturday. I can’t find my plastic wrap around sunglasses – so I just used my regular sun glasses. I got something in my right eye. It is really bothering me. I think it might have scratched the white part. It has been watering like crazy all day. Hopefully a night of sleep will cure it.
2. Keegan seems to toggle between a good day/night and a bad day/night. It is difficult for me however Jen continues to manage it gracefully.
3. We had a bunch of rain – which is good – however we got some water in the front door. The door sweep weather stripping needs to be replaced.

Week of May 28, 2007

Good:
1. My parents and sister visited this weekend. We had a really nice visit. They really enjoyed meeting Keegan and my parents look forward to their visit in July. My mom was nice enough to host us for dinner on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon we went to the Avenues.
2. What made the visit even more enjoyable was that Keegan is now sleeping better. This week we put him in his crib. A couple times he slept 5 and 6 hours in a row. Though he hasn’t hit that every night he seems to now skip the mid-night feeding. We can put him down around 10:30 – 11:00PM and he seems to make it until 3:00AM. This extra hour may not seem like a lot but it really helps.
3. We finally figured out the problem with the retimer that goes on the Switch. The customer gave me a call around 7:00PM and told me to leave work – but told me to take the datasheet home with me. He wanted me to re-read it before I went bed and then re-analyze the data when I got to work the next day. That was very good advice - he was right we were overlooking something very obvious. That little bit of perspective paid off.

Bad:
1. I still feel like I’ve been run over by a truck when I help out with the night shift on the weekend. I don’t know how Jen manages because she still has to pump. She’s still working on getting on the same schedule as Keegan. Even though he was sleeping longer Jen still has to get up and pump.
2. It was tough for Jen to allow Keegan to sleep in his own room. It definitely was the right call. He likes it some much better – I think he was cramped in the bassinet. Deb was right about borrowing the bassinet – now where do we put it?
3. We are not meeting the startup requirement for the file server. We were told by management to feel out the customer. They weren’t real excited and told us to get back to work.

Week of May 21, 2007

Good:
1. I was able to download Jen's Maroon 5 CD and she liked it!!! I haven't had a chance to listen to it but I like the one song that is on the radio.
2. Seth stopped by to cut his grass one evening and he stopped over for a couple of minutes. We had a nice visit. The next day Maria stopped by and visited with Jen during her lunch hour. It is a shame that they moved.
3. We may have an alternate solution for the switch. We've found a mode that seems to work – at least some of the time. This alternate mode of operation (repeater) may not provide us as much margin as the original approach (retimer) but it may be good enough. This alternate mode seems to be slightly intermittent so there are some things we need to track down to validate that it is a good path. We are still pursuing the original approach in parallel. So we have some hope.

Bad:
1. Jen came down with a bad fever on Thursday and it is even worse today (Friday). She thinks the fever is due to an infection in her breasts. She has a doctor's apt this afternoon so hopefully the doctor will be able to prescribe her some antibiotics.
2. Jen thinks Keegan has caught the colic. I told her my boy doesn't have the colic it must be something else. He was pretty good last night but he's been much more fussy the last couple of weeks. Mainly every evening around 8:30 or 9:00. It isn't horrible - but it would be nice too if we could just sit him in his play mat and he played. Maybe in a couple more months.
3. The Cammy has a short – or something. The battery won’t hold a charge.

Week of May 14, 2007

Good:
1. This really was a week of milestones and celebration. The week included Mother's Day, Keegan's one month birthday, Keegan's original due date, Ebony's Birthday, Jen's Birthday, my Parent's anniversary, and Corey's Birthday. We had a lot to celebrate.
2. Jen's birthday went well. I baked her a yellow cake with fudge frosting, decorated a small portion of the study with balloons and a happy birthday sign, took her to dinner and got her a handful of gifts. She seemed to really like everything that I got her so I'll take that as victory.
3. On the file server we are really close to having the throughput issue resolved - we actually already may be there. Our requirement is 20MB/sec and we are 19 and change. Initial feedback from the customer is that this is good enough. I think we will know "officially" on Tuesday. So this is really great.

Bad:
1. Keegan is starting to throw up on a more frequent basis. I'm guessing this is because he's eating quite a bit more lately. He had a doctor's apt and he weighed in at 8lbs 13oz - so that's really good. He has about tripled his fluid intake from 2oz per feeding to about 6oz per feeding. Its actually gotten a little more difficult taking care of him because he still is on a 2-3 hour feeding schedule and he's having more difficulty digesting his food. My hat goes off to Jen.
2. The retimer for the 32Port Switch that we are testing out still does not work. We are struggling to understand what needs to be done to fix the problem. We hope that it is something that we can fix so that we can move past the proto-type and incorporate this in the design. A handful of us are going in this afternoon to try and make some progress.
3. We haven't finished Keegan's room. I got the second coat of trim and roller complete however I can see a couple spots that need to be touched up - so I need to go back and hit those. Jen is going over the stripes. It is time consuming.

Week of May 7, 2007

Good:
1. Jen was able to send out all of the baby announcements. They turned out really well - at least I thought so - although I am a little biased.
2. We started to repaint Keegan's room. I think it is going to take us longer than expected. Jen picked out a very light blue to go over the pink. So it is taking a bit of paint to cover the pink. In addition there is much more detail work with the chair rail. Jen is attempting to repaint the stripes as well. We started so that is good.
3. In the effort to respin the 32Port Fibre Channel Switch we built a proto-type card. We got the proto card built. It looks good. We fired it up and it kind of worked. We have to program one part - which we are working on. Once we get that part programmed we will be able to evaluate the performance of the Retimer which will hopefully indicate that we can continue with the respin.

Bad:
1. For work I missed a meeting on throughput. I don't really have an excuse - basically I forgot about it. It probably wouldn't have been so bad however nobody else on our program showed up for it either other than our program manager. Since this is our number one priority it was kind of bad that I missed it. I got a talking to. I'm okay with it - I'm rather burned out on the program in general and throughput in particular. I don't feel bad about the reprimand because I deserved it. Hopefully with time I'll get remotivated.
2. Keegan has been feeling very gassy towards the end of the week. We're not sure of the exact cause. Jen did feed him some milk she had frozen so maybe it was something she ate before she really started to watch what she ate.
3. Jen's still feeling a little sore. Her stitches should be dissolving anytime now. That will be a relief for her.