Ringing of the Ears

We had a nice visit from the Christine and Jared and the five grandkids (8 and under) last week. They were here for the funeral of Jared's mother, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's for several years.

Their visit resulted in bit more noise than we normally have. They are all quite well-behaved, but there is an inherent 'joyful noise' when they are around. They were able to spend a lot of time with Jared's family (lots of cousins in that family) who live in the area. I got to stay with the two youngest during the funeral day, which was not as hard as I let on. I did change a few 'dirty duds', but was stoic during the whole process.

We watched lots of "Sprout", and I usually had at least two on my lap at all times (and, unfortunately, there isn't a lot of room on my particular lap). Our other daughter Stacy brought along her Wii, along with her new Wii Fit, so the kids had fun playing the games and using the Wii Fit. I declined, however, since I really don't want to know my BMI. I did play a few racing games with them. I am not a game player, due to minimal coordination skills, but I did manage to win a few of the races.

Their family is also pretty good about cleaning up toys and stuff, and left the house in pretty good shape. They left yesterday, so when I got home from work it was much quieter than usual.

At least I think it was. Hard to tell with all this leftover ringing in my ears.

I did manage to do a bit of minor improvements in my free File Transfer site (www.filehurl.com ) . I got a comment on my "Security Dawg" site recommending another 'free' site. But that place was not really free, and it certainly has limitations, although it might be a bit prettier. I replied in the post on Security Dawg comparing that 'free' site with the FileHurl site.

There are a few people using the FileHurl place. Right now, I think that it just needs a bit more publicity. Although I could do some self-publicity by posting to other sites such as Digg or Lifehacker, I'd rather (at the moment) let actual users do that. But the site works well (and easily), so give it a try if you need to transfer any size file to someone else.

How to Fix the Economy Fast

As I go home each day, there is a used office furniture store that has a life-size fiberglass cow (painted red and white) sitting on the sidewalk. The owners put a short phrase of the day (or week).

This week, the cow's message is "Stop the Recession - Get In Here and Buy Something!".

And that's how you fix the economy.

You can also donate to the FileHurl site (www.filehurl.com), or buy your very own Carbon Offset Certificate (www.carbonoffsetcerts.com ). That will help my economy.

No Rain or Floods - Yet

All the wet stuff went up north, as usual. The folks up in Washington/Oregon are a bit damp at the moment, with lots of rain melting lots of snow. Nephew Todd reports that he's still on dry land. Daughter Christine reports cold and a bit of snow, along with some intestinal distress. She insists it is not morning sickness.

Here, we just got fog and low clouds. Cold (for us), with highs in the mid-40's (F). My plan is to stay inside.

Made a minor addition to the FileHurl site (www.filehurl.com). Now you can see the thousands (well, 'ones') of people that are using the place to send a file to a friend. Soon, the counters will show thousands of people visiting the site daily. Perhaps.

Back to the Grind

Back to work today. I really wanted to sleep in...

So, digging my way out of the inbox, and trying to get organized with the project list. Had some difficulties posting these blog entries over the weekend, but all seems to be well now. That will make my five regular readers happy (three of those being my family).

The "Free File Transfer" site (www.filehurl.com) is working well. I'll be making some minor tweaks to the pages, and have updated things a bit to let Google know that the site is active. You five regular readers are welcome to try it out, and any suggestions for changes are welcomed.

Back from the Road Trip

A fun Christmas holiday so far ... most of it, anyway.

Started out with a long trip to Utah to spend the holiday with Jared and Christine (daughter) and children (cute grandkids, all five of them). We started at 8am on the 24th after Stacy (daughter) got off her overnight shift at Shriner's Children's Hospital). I had been watching the weather for several days, with an incoming winter storm in our future.

I had hoped that we would be able to stay just ahead of the winter storm, but it was not to be. Chains were required over Donner summit (although four-wheel drive vehicles didn't need chains then). The roads were a bit snow-packed, but all lanes were plowed. We got the cable chains on the car (actually, we helped the local economy by allowing a chain installer to do it for us), and trundled along at 25-30mph over the summit. It was a bit slippery, though: we watched a Subaru wagon (without chains, since they are all-wheel drive) do a nice 360 pirouette a bit in front of us. They were lucky; didn't slam into the guardrails or any other cars.

We got over the summit OK, and were able to take the chains off at Truckee. The roads were wet but clear as we made our way into Nevada. Just past Fernley NV (east of Reno), the roads started to get a bit of snow-pack, with the right lane clear and slightly slushy, and the left lane snow-packed. Just a bit of snow flurries in the air, so I was thinking that we were going to be able to stay ahead of the storm.

By the time we got to Winnemucca (NV), the snow was starting to fall a bit heavier, and the roads were getting more snow-packed. I pulled into a gas station at the edge of town and got the snow chains on.

And we started rumbling across Nevada at 30mph. It was quite windy, with the snow blowing horizontally across the road at times. The road was snow-packed in places, but the four-wheel-drive trucks (lots of them in Nevada) were able to pass us. Even the big semis were swooshing by at 50-60mph; I assume they had snow tires, but it was quite exciting to have a big semi speed by you in a snow-packed lane as you are plodding along at 30mph.

The elevations across Nevada range from about 4000 feet to 7000 feet in the mountain passes. And it was snowing most of the way. The road crews were out with the snow plows, keeping at least one lane partly cleared. Although I've made the Sacramento to Salt Lake City trip many times, this was my first winter crossing in a snowstorm. I'm driving a Camry with good tires, although not snow treads. And since a snow storm over the Sierra Nevada mountains is always good for a few feet of snow, I'm figuring the same elevation mountain passes in Nevada are going to get similar amount of snow.

So the chains stayed on, perhaps a bit longer than needed. I finally got to take them off at Oasis NV. That's about 200 miles (half of Nevada), normal driving time of under 3 hours. But a bit longer at 30mph max, with rumbling tire chains. The chains probably could have come off sooner, but I figured the mountain passes would have enough snow that chains would be needed. Apparently, it doesn't snow as much in Nevada as I figured. It was mostly slushy snow in the right lane most of the way, with the left lane snow-packed.

Once free of the tire chains, the roads started to clear up, and we started making good time. We finally ended up in Syracuse UT (a bit north of SLC) at about 330am, after about 19 hours of driving (a trip that usually takes about 10 hours in good weather).

It was pretty cold outside (about 28 F), strong winds, so it was quite chilly (for this Californian) unloading the car (and about 6 trash bags full of presents). We tried to be quiet as presents were arranged under the tree (as I tried a short nap downstairs). The grandkids got up about 5am (or a bit earlier), and changed into their new pajamas (a family tradition). So the fun part started.

Lots of presents for everyone, and the good times started as everyone opened their treasures. A relaxing day at home while there was light snow outside. We stayed there until the following Monday, leaving at about 8am under clearing skies. The weather was partly to mostly sunny all the way home, roads dry and clear, even over the Sierras, so were able to get home at about 6pm.

It was a fun trip. This time of year is difficult for our family, as we miss Jason (and celebrate his birthday on Jan 3rd). So time spent with family over the holiday is nice. We may make this an annual trip, along with the several others we make to Utah during the year. (Pam is already planning for a March trip to coincide with a big scrapbook expo in March.)

Once at home, it's pretty low-key and quiet. We managed to stay up until midnight last night, but were in bed sleeping a few minutes after the midnight New Year's noise. Our plans for the rest of the week are similarly quiet.

Hope your holidays were enjoyable.