Archive for August, 2006



We heard from my brother Nathan late last week that he had made it to Kuwait. He will be there for 7-14 days before going on to Iraq. He said it was 100 degrees at 9pm and the high was 120!! I don’t think I’ll be complaining about our long stretch of 100 degree highs anymore. Here’s an excerpt [...]

We video chat quite a bit with my sister and her kids in Nebraska and they’ve gotten pretty used to it. It just so happened that my parents, who live about half a mile from them, decided to video chat with them last week. Ben, age 2, was a little confused as to what Grandma [...]

My New Job

I figured I should post on this before it isn’t considered "new" anymore. About 2 months ago, I transitioned into a new position at work. I’m still working for National Instruments, I just moved into a new role. Previously, I was the Product Support Engineer (PSE) for LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW PDA. So what is a [...]

Share Your Photos

Now that you’ve got your free blog set up (see my previous post), you might be thinking that you’d like to share some photos. Who doesn’t want to share their photos with friends and family? Everybody likes looking at photos, but you can only attach so many pictures to an email. What is bad is if [...]

Milkbone Bandit

We’ve gotten into the habit of giving Red, our trusty Australian shepherd, a treat before we leave the house and leave her alone inside. We thought it would be a good routine to get into to help her get over any initial anxiety of getting left home alone. Apparently it worked, because we don’t think [...]

Curiously Strong

We had an epiphany of sorts this evening - Olivia Grace is a very smart child. We knew this would be the case, what with her valedictorian mother and salutatorian father (that’s right I was #1; he was #2). But little did I know just how clever she could be at a wee eight months. While we were waiting [...]

SketchUp Your Next Project

Along with all of my other hobbies, I also enjoy woodworking. And being a mechanical engineer, I enjoy designing my own plans. In college, I designed and built my own futon and I made Olivia a rocking bassinet stand. Unfortunately, most computer aided design (CAD) software for drawing up plans are really expensive and when I’m [...]

Let the Blogs Begin

A while back I posted on how I set up my blog and who I have hosted through (here). But if that is a little intimidating, or just too much work, there are simplier options. Even FREE options. I haven’t done an extensive review but here are a couple of recommendations backed up by a [...]

Tech Meets Toy

Just in case anyone is shopping for Christmas presents already, I’ve got a new item on my list. The next generation of robotic LEGOs released this week. LEGO® MINDSTORMS NXT®. What makes them so cool? Well, not only can you build cool stuff, but they are also infused with technology. These robotic LEGOs include motors, sensors, and an intelligent central brick [...]






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