Yeraze's Domain 3.0

What you’re looking at here has not been (significantly) modified or PhotoShopped.  That’s our 4 year old daughter and 10-month old son, and yes they’re almost the same size.  Just as Rhianna was incredibly small in her youth (mostly due to the prematurity), Ethan is incredibly large.  At 10-months of age, we can barely pack him into 18-month outfits. 

He’s not "fat" per-se, he’s just big all around.  On head circumference, height, and weight, he clocks in at the 90% percentile (meaning he’s larger than 90% of kids in all 3).  He weights almost 30-pounds, and is nearly indestructible.  He’s trying to learn to walk, and every time he falls and we all rush to the loud "thud" of him hitting the hardwood floor, we arrive to find him looking around with a smile.  He’s incredibly happy all the time, and suffers from a uncontrollable, unsatiable appetite for anything to go in his mouth.

He’s got 2 good teeth now, with several more incoming.  He can easily crawl, say "dada", and hold his own bottle/sippy cup/pacifier.  He can stand, and he can even walk if he has something to hold onto.  That, of course, means that everyone on the couch is now fair-game, so our TV remotes have some interesting scratches all over them now.  The mobility also means that Rhianna no longer sits in the floor & watches TV while she eats, as Ethan will quickly come to "help".

In other news, Laura is doing well in her RHIA program and preparing to take her CCS exam.  We found out that her employer will pay entirely for her RHIA classes, so she’s going to school for free.  She’s doin pretty well at work, too, and seems to be enjoying performing the work she was originally educated for.  She’s a bit frazzled with the school, certification tests, and work all at once, but she’s doin pretty good on all angles of it.

As for me, things are pretty slow right now at the office.  I get to go to Alaska next month for some training, and I’m hoping to have time to take some good pictures (and panorams!) that I hope to post here. 

And that wraps up the "Hand Family Update" for a while   Folks have been on me for not posting much "family" information, so hopefully this will fulfill that end for a few weeks…
[tag:family]

This weekend we celebrated Rhianna’s 4th birthday. Her birthday isn’t actually until later this week, but this weekend was more convenient for everyone.  We rented out a local Pizza Hut and invited some friends over, and had a great time.  Later than evening we went to the local Mexican restaurant and they let Rhi wear the big Sombrero while they sang Feliz Cumpleaños .  Seems this was the Barbie & Play-doh birthday as she racked up on both of them.  She had fun and we’re still (3 days later) opening presents that she hasn’t gotten to yet.  Laura & I got her a Trampoline for her birthday which seems to have been a big hit.  She calls it her own personal Bouncy House and makes it a point to go jump every day.

Trampolines have advanced alot since I was a kid.  This one has several improvements over the one my sisters and I destroyed:

• Springs connect to both the top & bottom of the outer frame, rather than just the top.
• The outer pad connects not only to the frame, but to the pad as well, eliminating those "accidents" where someone’s foot slips under the pad and through the springs.
• Outer Net – This one is a huge difference.  A giant 8-foot tall net surrounds the entire thing, stiched to the outer pad.

Alltogether it’s a much safer "toy" than when I was a kid, and Rhi sure seems to be enjoying it. 

Rhi also did one thing this weekend that really made me proud.  While I was at DOECGF in Colorado, NCAR SCD gave away these neat little pens with Blue LED’s on them, and a button to toggle between blinking, solid on, and off.  The pens don’t write for crap, but they look neat and therefore I grabbed a few and gave them to Rhi to play with.  She’s fascinated by the blinking and continues to play with them.  Anyway, she had one in the car playing with it as we drove back to the house and she said "I broke it, it doesn’t work anymore."  I took a look at it and sure enough the LED wouldn’t come on anymore.  I thought it odd that the battery would die so suddenly on something so small as a LED, so I took a closer look.  After some inspection I found that one of the batteries (it used 3 small button-cells) was in backward. Rhianna had disassembled the pen and in putting it back together accidentally got one of the batteries in backwards.  A little engineer in training.
[tag:birthday][tag:family]

Happy Easter everyone.  Hope it was a good one.  Laura & I spent the weekend together working around the house.  "Working around the house" includes Cutting the grass, dusting for ants, hanging new Wire-rack shelves in our laundry room, spring-cleaning of all the closets, storage of all the clothes that don’t fit anymore, and many, many bags and boxes of garbage awaiting pickup in the garage.

But it wasn’t all work.  Laura lucked out this weekend and after 20 finger-numbing minutes of digging in the ice cream Freezer at Wal-Mart, victoriously returned with two pints of Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream.  Ever since I first heard of thing I’ve wanted to try it, and I have to admit it doesn’t disappoint.  Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Fudge, Caramel, and Waffle-cone pieces.. It’s delicious. 

This weekend almost marked Laura’s first admission that the MythTV is pretty kewl ™.  Not only for it’s ability to automatically mark and skip commercials with incredible accuracy (We watched several episodes of House & Dresden Files this weekend, as well as Lewis Black: Black on Broadway and Bill Engvall’s 15-Degrees Off Cool), but for the ease with which I could schedule new recordings when she asked me to.  We were watching TV when a commercial for Lewis Black’s special came on and she said "We should watch that".  Knowing we’ld probably be busy, I grabbed the remote and turned on the MythTV, flipped over to the Program Guide, selected the show (24 hours in advance), and told it to record it.  Then flipped back to the live TV.  I think I’ve made a convert of her   Unfortunately, with all this new interest comes several more scheduling conflicts.  I’m gonna have to add in a 2nd tuner soon, I’ve just got to decide between another PVR-150 or a USB Tuner.

So as I sit at work and listen to Polka Floyd, I think it was a pretty good easter weekend.
[tag:easter][tag:work][tag:icecream][tag:americonedream][tag:mythtv][tag:waf]

Sorry my updates have been kinda few and far between lately.  Between working on this website, VizWorld.com, and Visualization.hpc.mil, I’m kinda blogged out.  So here’s a quick update of things around the homestead.

• I cut the grass over the weekend.  First grass-cutting of 2007, and it wound up being pretty easy.  Things are so dry and we’ve gotten so little rain that it was a bit like running a leafblower in the desert, just tossing up dust and dirt more than pollen and grass.
• I’ve been working on the Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past on the Wii’s Virtual Console.  I never got it for the Super Nintendo, so I’m having alot of fun figuring it out now. 
• I’ve been watching alot of Star Trek.  My MythTV records 4 episodes of Enterprise every Monday on SciFi, and 2 episodes of Voyager every weekday on SpikeTV. 
• Ethan had his second round of shots last week, and after a few days of fever he’s doin great.  He’s started rolling over now, and not far away from crawling.
• Rhianna been doin great too.
• Laura’s doin fantastic at her job, and even got accepted into a new college program she’ll start this summer.

So while I’ve been pretty quiet, it’s been a good couple of weeks  
[tag:family]

This week is Spring Break.  With Laura & I both working fulltime jobs now, that means Ethan & Rhianna are spending some time with the Grand-parents.  I would say "much needed" but I’m sure the grandparents will be good and tired of them in short order   Rhianna can be quite a handful.

Last weekend my Mom took Rhianna to see her first real movie: Bridge to Terabithia.  Laura and I had been talking about taking Rhi to a movie for quite a while, but we were waiting for a good cute animated flic (something like Cars)  before we took her.  She’s always been real sensitive to loud noises and we wanted something that would hold her interest.  My mom said she was great tho, they sat together (Rhi sat in my Mom’s lap since she doesn’t weigh enough to hold the folding seats down), ate popcorn, and watched the entire movie.  Rhi was pretty bored in the beginning, but once all the fantasy creatures appeared she was evidently quite enthralled by it all.

Ethan’s doing great as well.  He’s gonna be a huge kid, at only 4 months he’s bigger than alot of 1-year olds.  We’re pretty sure it’s gonna slow his progression to walking by a bit, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him a bit.  He’s starting coo’ing and babbling alot, and can just about roll over on his own.  He’s currently fascinated by his own hands, and learning how to cram things in his mouth.

As for Laura and Myself, things are going well.  Laura’s doing fantastic at her job and even found a great online RHIT->RHIA progression program offered there that she’s investigating.  I’ve been doing pretty well at work, spending alot of my time on the new Viz Website.  On Monday I received a reward for being nominated for the "Dare to Soar" award (I didn’t win the "Dare to Soar" award, it’s kinda confusing) and got a small monetary compensation that bought a Wii Points Card, Call of Duty 3, and some groceries.  Things have been going pretty good, just hope they stay that way

Sometime in the next few weeks we’ll probably try to rally the troops for a big weekend with the Great-Grandparents in Alabama, they haven’t gotten to see Ethan yet except in pictures.  It’ll be a long day (3 hours driving there, 4 hours or so there, 3 hours back = 10 hours).  We’ll just see how things go.
[tag:family]

Laura’s been bitten by the MySpace bug and spent last night putting together a small Flash movie with the services of OneTrueMedia.  For your viewing pleasure, here it is.

[tag:family][tag:onetruemedia][tag:movie][tag:myspace]

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, sorry for the lack of updates.  Here’s a brief update on what I’ve been doin:

• Laura’s got a new job, started this week…
• I’ve been working on VizWorld.com
• I’ve been working on another website at Work
• We got our new Cluster in at work (6-nodes, 16CPU/128G ram per node)
• We got our new RenderFarm in at work (60 nodes, dual-proc dual-core Intel Core’s)
• My dad "procured" me a motherboard for my MythTV, a DFI RDX-200 , an Athlon64 3700, and 1G of ram for it
• Arguing with imcompetent Hospital Billing from Ethan’s Birth

So it’s been pretty busy… hopefully once the rest of the parts for my new system trickle in I’ll be able to post some info on how it works (I’m really lookin forward to being able to use my MythTV on the TV, instead of burning DVD’s every morning).  Also, alot’s goin on with Ethan & Rhi that I’m sure someone will find interesting.  So check back again soon.

As some of you may have heard, it’s finally gotten cold down here in Mississippi.  Up until yesterday, we were in the middle of a 2-week rainstorm.  It’s finally dried out, but has yet to top 55F, making it quite chilly and ruining my nice low Gas bills.

To make matters worse, Ethan has entered the Fear of Pooping stage of babyhood.  For the unindoctrinated amongst you, the FoP stage is when the bowels move into a regular 24-hours cycle (1 bowel movement a day), and the 6 or 8 hours leading up to the "grand event" are filled with grunting and screaming as they ponder what in the heck is going on.  Thankfully, Ethan’s have been in the 8-10pm range, meaning we all got a decent night’s sleep afterwards.  No longer, as he’s now moved into the 10am bracket, meaning we get to spent almost all night listening to him grunt and trying to keep him from screaming.

Last night I finally reached my breaking point.  In the hours prior to the "grand event", he’s simply inconsolable.  I’ve tried holding him, talking to him, walking with him, petting him, playing with him, everything.  Just when you think it can’t get any louder, he cranks it up another notch.  What is the solution to this malady?  Mommy.  Laura comes in and picks him up, and within 30 seconds he’s sound asleep again.  It’s as if I offend him in some way and he simply wants to be rid of me.  Of course, that’s not the truth but it sure seems like it, and it makes things hard to deal with.

A few nights like this and you start to see how someone could go too far and do something they’ld regret.  Thankfully, Laura seems to be able to calm him in the evenings.  Unfortunately, that leaves Laura with little to no sleep.  So what’s the Solution to that?  Grandma.
[tag:baby][tag:family]

Well this weekend was Christmas 2006.  We decided Santa would visit our house early (Saturday) so that we could go visit the folks for the long weekend.  All seemed to be going well until we were struck with the same curse as my parents: All the kids were sick for Christmas Day.

Ethan had been coughing for a few days but on Thursday startied some major spewage: Entire bottles spewed back with such ferocity that it was coming out his nose.  We took him to see the doc, but evidently it was just a cold so there was nothing he could do.  I’m happy to report that after a few days of Benadryl (and many, many loads of laundry) he seems to be back to 100% again.

On Sunday Morning Rhianna woke up with a good fever brewing.  She pretty much hadn’t slept in 48 hours and hadn’t eaten much either.  We managed to finally get her to sleep and start eating and the fever went away, but then she started complaining of her ear.  A Quick trip to the doctor Tuesday came up with the bane of all parents: Bilateral Ear Infections.  She’s on medication and seemingly doing better now.

My parents kept telling me about when I was younger and me and my sisters would be sick pretty much constantly between Labor Day & New Years.  Almost like we used our allotment of “well days” up so we had to get sick all at once and continuously.  Seems like Rhianna & Ethan will be following in that tradition.

As far as presents go, Rhianna, of course, was loaded by the time it was all over.  Full up with Books (The Big Dr Seuss Trilogy: Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs & Ham, and Fox In Socks), Princesses, Games (Candyland, woo!) and dolls, I felt like a pirate after looting the local village on my way home.  Laura & I came home light, the big gift being a Canon Elura-100 Mini-DV Camcorder that I’m anxious to play with.  Once I get some time with it under my belt I’ll be sure to post a review.
[tag:christmas][tag:sick][tag:games]

This weekend we got out the tree (We use an artificial pre-lit tree Laura got from QVC) and decorated it up for Christmas. Rhianna loves helping and it was a good couple of hours of fun for the whole family.

When we were done, Rhianna asked (as she often does) “Can I play on the ‘puter?” We spend alot of time on the NickJr & Disney websites playing the little flash games. She also enjoys playing our copy of Zuma, although she doesn’t really understand the rules. For the web games she usually points at the screen and I drive the mouse, and with Zuma she basically just clicks randomly. It’s cute and she loves it.

Well, this time I walked away while she was playing Zuma, and when I came back I found her using the mouse to navigate through the different levels in the Gauntlet Mode, and then she’ld click on “Play” to start the level. When it was over, she’ld click on the OK Button, and find another level and click Play again. I was amazed. Later when we played the flash games I let her drive the mouse, and sure enough she took off just fine. We played the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Silly Slide game and she could pick her difficulty, select the pieces and then let it rip. I was amazed. I didn’t realize she had paid so close attention to it all but she knows more about how to use a computer than alot of people I’ve met in my life. She’s shaping up to be just like her daddy Laura & I have already decided we’re gonna try to get her her own keyboard and mouse, something a little more friendly to her tiny hands. (You’ll see the pretty pink mouse in the picture, that’s Laura’s old Hello Kitty mouse but it’s still far too big for her hand).

As for Ethan, he’s been pretty fussy. This was our first weekend all at home as a family, and Laura and I both are exhausted. I don’t get to spend much time with Ethan since I typically have to take care of Rhianna. My time with Ethan is the 8-midnight block after Rhi & Laura go to bed. I guess that’s just how it goes, tho.
[tag:family][tag:computer][tag:game]