Soon we will be taking my daughter to Indianapolis, Indiana to spend some time with here family there. Dropping her off in Indy is always found with mixed emotions. It sucks not having her around, because I do miss the little wookie while she is gone, but it is also like a summer vacation, where we don‘t have to worry with sitters and can do as we please. Now that Maddie is getting older, sitters are becoming a thing of the past. She is now independent and is a growing teenager. She has her own cell phone, can text message like a pro, and is usually fun to have around. She always want to talk, or at least talk about what she is interested in, and is pretty easy going.

In the past our Summer break has been filled with catching up on house chores and maintenance. One year we went to Telluride, Colorado to see the Telluride Bluegrass festival. We drove all the way from North Carolina to Colorado with a bag of camping equipment strapped to the roof of my old Pontiac Grand Am and a dog chilling in the back seat. Last year Amber had a big surgery and was in a lot of pain. We did not do much, but try to get Amber feeling better, and I was trying to adjust to a new job.

Well this year we do not have many plans. One thing we are going to do on our way back home from Indy is we are going to stop and see Moe. in Cincinnati, OH. This is going to be a great show and a kick start to our short Summer Vacation. I can‘t wait to jam out to some Moe. and kick it old school. We are also going to catch Jack Johnson play at Walnut Creek in Raleigh NC. We have pit passes and will be chilling front row. I have always wanted to see Jack Johnson, and this will be my first show. Shortly after that, we will have to hit the road again and pick Maddie back up.

I have found it funny that her trips to Indy always make me appreciate having her around the house. I guess it is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It will be weird when she is off to college and won‘t want to hang with the parental units anymore. I guess then me and my wife will have to plan some crazy trips and get into our own adventures.

I guess her being away for about three weeks is not too long, but for some reason it will feel like forever.

Yesterday was my daughters 13th birthday, and what a joyous occasion it was. The weekend before her birthday we celebrated with her friends by taking them out bowling and then out to eat. That was a lot of fun, and we gave her one of her birthday presents, a digital camera, so she could take pictures of her friends while they hung out. Well yesterday, on her actual birthday, me and my wife had one more surprise for her, her own cell phone.

We had given her one of our old cell phones to use, and only use on a limited basis. This was to make sure that she would not loose it and would not abuse it. Well she accomplished to adhere to 75% of this. She did not abuse the phone and she did not loose it until this summer, when she was not using it at all. I figured that if we actually let her use the cell phone like all other kids, for texting and a main life line, then she would not lose it at all. So we made the plunge and decided to get her a phone on our plan. Now that she has her own phone, me and my wife both have phones, it is time to retire the Time Warner Cable VoIP phone that we have been using. The TWC VoIP phone cost us about $50 a month. Since everyone in the house has there own phone, I am canceling that bad boy now. I hope that this does not come to bite me in the ass, but only time will tell.

Well I guess I have moved up to the big time. Since I have started my new position in Identity Management, they got me a new computer to work with. That computer being a nice, brand new, shinny MacBook Pro. As a long time Windows user I have finding the transition to the Mac‘s operating system a little challenging and exciting all at the same time. To keep my productivity up I am slowly migrating applications and setting up my new Mac while doing day to day processing on the old IBM T43 laptop. I can‘t wait to just make the transition and use my new machine.

I will have to say that the MacBook Pro really is tricked out with 4gb of ram, the look of a Delorean, and when the lights go out the key board lights up. How fun is that. I am looking forward to seeing how much I will love the Mac and is super fancy OS.

I have been in the process of interviewing with the Identity Management Group at UNC-Chapel Hill. Well about two weeks ago I got the call from Human Resources asking me if I would like to take the position. Of course I said yes and today is my first day. I am excited about this new opportunity and can‘t wait to get my feet wet.

I feel that this is going to be a great opportunity for me. The Identity Management group has just purchased the Sun Identity Manager product to help with the provisioning of services across campus. The group is also in the process of putting together a new SSO system on campus based on Shibboleth and SAML.

On the heels of widespread rumors that the band held a conference call
last Friday, Prime Phish lyricist Tom Marshall told PopMatters.com that
“Trey wants to come back“ and “No one wants Phish back more than Trey“; that
he has written more than 15 songs with Trey over the last four months; and
that the two have “a new energy, a spark“ and are “bright-eyed and bushy
tailed“ and “like we‘re in 8th grade again”.

Full article can be read here .

Reading this article has finally given me some hope that I will, once again, get to see the greatest band alive, PHISH! I have missed Phish so much over the past few years, and have always dreamed about them getting back together. It looks like my dreams have come true. Now I wonder who got the Trampolines from Coventry and will they be shipping them back to the band? Here is a video clip of the boys on the trampolines at Coventry. I was there and was loving every minute of it.