June 2011-Playing Catch Up-New Job

New Job, same company.

Over the past few weeks I've discussed and accepted the role of Director of Engineering at SVT.  I'd like to say its a matter of my always telling them what they needed to do, and I guess the finally called my bluff.

Reality is, it is going to be a challenge, and one I'm up for taking.  So, for the second time in SVT's history, we will have an office in Colorado.  I do have a vision for our products, now comes making it a reality.

There are many challenges along the way to overcome.  The first is transitioning to the new role.  Currently, I'm in Sales.  I've enjoyed the sales role and learned a ton, but it I have to admit I can honestly say the new role is one where I will provide a greater value to the company.  With the new VP of Sales, who has a 60 day sales goal, it is difficult to make any changes without seriously impacting his ability to meet that goal.  We need to train someone to replace me, and at the moment we don't even have office space to put new developers.  We will, however, persevere.

We have needed a strong vision for the technology for some time, and my unique view of dealing with the market, what they need and what the technology is capable of, will be a strength.  Shouldn't be too difficult, its not anything I haven't done in the past (leading people, providing vision of the product, training people, etc.), just need to shift gears back into the development world.  Guess it is time to step up.

Welcome to the Century of the Fruitbat, Mr. Folmar!

This blog is dedicated to my buddy, Akhtar.

I've been resistant to getting a smartphone.  My old dumb phone made calls just fine.  Matter of fact, when my buddies with IPhones post on Facebook comments like: "THIS IS THE GREATEST PHONE EVAR!"

I would usually call to congratulate them, but they never answered usually because the reception sucks.  Not sure about everyone out there, but I purchases a Phone with the intent and purpose of making Phone calls.

However, the wife and I had discussed upgrading to a smart phone.  I really didn't want what I consider to be the world's greatest paperweight: the IPhone.  It's not that I don't like the phone so much as I really can't stand Apple's attitude.  Their wishy-washyness on admitting apps to the Apple store bugs me, I can't stand they tied it to a crappy provider for years.  Apple is an innovative company, and they make money (no denying the facts), but when it comes to customer service and business sense I feel they have a long way to go.   Their need to control every aspect from hardware to software is just too dictatorial for me (plus, ATT service sucks).  IPhone is out.

After much debate neither of use wanted to leave our beloved T-Mobile service.  So, my wife and I both upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy phone.  It's great.  Battery life could be better, I don't doubt, but I believe any phone we get will have the same core problems.  The interface is good, all the apps we need are there, and the picture is stunning.  Overall, I'm happy with it!

June 2011-Playing Catchup-Dad's Day!

Arionna "Buffalo Gal" Folmar

On Sunday, June 17th, we had a "Dad's Day".  Dad's days are a tradition I started when Kaylee was around 3 or 4.  Basically, I take one of the kids we spend the day together.  I remember Kaylee at 3 years old going for 'coffee' with me and we would 'play chess'.  (On a side note; at the age of 4 she beat me, twice, and I have since given up the game!)

Little "Alora Oakley" Folmar 

Anyhow, this week I took the youngest two as we haven't been out in some time.  Particularly since I have been traveling for the job over the past year, I have had less time to spend with the kids.  So, today I took them out!

Food First
First, we went to Lamar's Donuts.  Mmmmmm...gooooood.  Each of us ate two and had, depending on the person: coffee, chocolate milk, or apple juice.  Then we were on our way!

Main Event
I took them to Buffalo Bill's Grave site and Museum up in Golden.  We had a blast as the pictures below show.  All of us learned quite a bit about the life and times of William F. Cody.

One thing my wife and I try to do is take the kids to both educational and fun activities -- Funcational if you will.  This summer we plan on visiting D.C.  Personally, I'd like to go visit Gettysburg again, but DC it will be for this year.  Another thing we often involve the kids in is 'social issues' of history.  Some stories I know are a a bit more extreme than the wife might like, but history is a brutal affair.

So, here are some of the things we learned about Col. William F 'Buffalo Bill' Cody interspersed among the pictures:

Arionna Trying Her Roping Skills on "Stubby the Horse"

• He was born in Iowa, but moved to Leavenworth, Kansas

And She Knocks Her Hat Off!

• He met his first 'American' (Native American or Indian) at the age of 8 when they came to trade with his father
• His father was stabbed in Kansas while giving an anti-slavery talk by a pro-slavery supporter

Alora on "Stubby" the Horse

• At 11 William was head of household and proceed to embark on his careers:
• Cattle Driver,
• Pony Express Rider,
• Gold Prospector,
• Buffalo Hunter for the Railroad,
• Showman
• He was also an Army Scout where he earned the rank of Colonel, and later General
• He preferred Colonel despite being a general and others int he continued to call him Colonel.

Here we can see why we nicknamed him 'Stubby'

• He won the Congressional Medal of Honor:  Later rescinded, then reinstated
• He passed away in Denver, Co and was buried in Lookout Mountain at his request
• Nebraska and Wyoming both contested the burial plot, saying his body belonged to them.
• The local newspaper of Cody, Wyoming (the town he founded) went so far as to post a $10,000 reward to anyone who would 'retrieve his remains'.
• CO called out the Colorado Guard to protect his grave
• His was the second most visited grave site in the United States, behind George Washington, until the death of JFK.

Alora Roped Her Doggie

Alora the Ham -- On 'Stubby'

Finishing the Museum

We spent close to 5 hours at the museum.  We did almost all the activities and read quite a bit of the exhibits.  We at least looked at the exhibits, Arionna wasn't up much for reading.  And the show was fun.

Weather up in Golden was Windy, real windy.  Still, it wasn't as cold as I expected and the girls and I were comfortable up there.

Finally, the girls wanted to visit Buffalo Bill's Tomb, so we climbed the hill and paid our respects.  Alora was rather respectful and insightful.  Arionna asked, with typical 7 year old inquisitiveness, "So he's dead in there, right?  Wow, that's a lot of stones.  I'm hungry.  Ok, race you to car!"

Post Museum

Alora is holding a skunk pelt

After the museum we took the beautiful mountain trail down: Lariat Loop.  Then we headed for lunch at Atlanta Bread Company.  After lunch, paid a visit to a few stores: Beyond the Blackboard, and a famous local used bookstore: Black and Read.

Arionna had to try both cutouts

So, Alora did as well!

At Beyond the girls played with some of the educational games, while at Black and Read I introduced them to the top of the line technology analog systems ever developed: the 33 RPM record.  Neither had ever seen a record before!  Odd explaining what type of primitive, back woods society would be forced to live in such decrepit conditions necessary to find entertainment by running a sharp needle over a spinning disk just to hear sound.  What?  No Picture Either?  It was the Dark Ages all over again, man!

New Kid on the Block

Or in the House.  We offered to take Ryan, our nephew, to come live with us.  He decided to try it for the summer, so this last two weeks we spent moving him into the house.  He now sleeps in Alora's room.  Marie and I moved to Arionna's room.   And Alora and Arionna moved into the Master Bedroom.'

The girls are ecstatic, of course.  They not only have "more like a brother" as they refer to Ryan, but they get "the big room"!  Good thing the house is large enough to accommodate all of us.  We have hung a drape, which Marie stitched together, to separate the girl's room into two parts of roughly equal size.

In the meantime, Marie has begun tutoring Ryan in his school work to bring him up to speed.  He's a smart kid, so he's catching up pretty quickly.

Anyhow, enough for this post, will post more in 2 days!

April 2011 - Playing Catch Up - Marie's Condition

For those not aware of it, I'm going to explain Marie's condition in this blog.


What is it(?)
Marie suffers from anaphylaxis reactions.  Normally, the cause is in response to an allergen: bee stings, peanuts, etc.  In Marie's case, there doesn't seem to be any single known cause.  It has been hypothesized her body is storing the 'toxins' in her system and, due to some trigger, her body releases them all at once.  However, no amount of testing has revealed this to be the case.


What have we done?
Fortunately, we live in Denver, Co.  This is close to National Jewish Hospital, a leader in allergy and allergic reaction research.  Marie has been dozens of times.  These are in addition to visits to Boulder University Hospital.  No one has provided any clues as to a potential solution.


How Severe can it be?
Potentially, it is fatal.  She needs to get to the hospital immediately and she needs immediate treatment within minutes.  A few times in the past I've thought this might be it, but she has always pulled through.  She carries around an epinephrine in her purse, and we have a few around the house 'just in case'.  All the kids are trained to administer an injection and call 911.

Future Options?

We don't know.  Besides putting her in a giant hamster cage, and I have my doubts that would help, I'm not sure what else we can do about the condition.  We refuse to 'give in' and we will continue to do the things we enjoy: hiking, going out to dinner, theater, etc.  We are careful, and we plan things, but we can't give up doing the things that make life worth living.

Now, if anyone knows of a physician who might know something about this condition, by all means leave a comment below.

Prom 2011 - and Crazy Weeks

So many things going on in the past few weeks I can either create the post to end all posts, or I break it up and make extra posts this week to try and catch up.  I'm choosing option B, so I'll post extra this week to try and capture everything.

First, one for the Girls (and my wife will post about this as well):PROM 2011.

Beautiful coiffure

Kaylee, my eldest, is a Junior in High School and this weekend was Prom week.  Now, Kaylee is not a 'girly girl'.  She prefers jeans over dresses, plays Ultimate Frisbee, and doesn't like public events.  Her first homecoming dance she dressed in 'business slacks'.  After being the only girl not wearing a dress, she has worn a dress every year since.

An Angel

I may be biased as I see so much of her mother in her.  Yes, Marie is a few inches shorter, and has blonde, but still the resemblance is there.  I always thought Marie was incredibly beautiful, and now her daughter is taking after her.  The neighbors saw us taking the pictures and came out to see her...she was mortified.

Course, it wouldn't be Kaylee if dad didn't 'come to the rescue' at some point in time.  That little red car in the background of the picture above, she took that to go pick up her friends for the prom.  I was at the store when Marie called me, Kaylee had locked her keys in the car.  With the car running!  So I had to rush down there and open the car.

This one was even better.  First, I got to see her friend all made up as well (she was very attractive).  But, there were even more of her friend's neighbors standing around waiting to see the 'beauty pageant' of prom girls.  Course, they gave her a hard time about locking her keys in the car.  It was a good thing she was wearing rouge as you couldn't tell she was blushing, except for dad...I could tell.

Kaylee's report on the prom was the dance was 'ok'.  The after prom party, "JAM: Just After Midnight" was better.  JAM is what our high school does to keep the prom students 'out of trouble', so to speak.  The school provides a safe environment, activities, and prizes.  These aren't little prizes; they include things like: 32" TVs and diamonds. Course the girls want the diamonds.

Kaylee wants the diamonds (so she can sell them for cash).

So, I know everyone wants to know, did she have a date and did she dance.  She didn't have a date.  She danced, but only with her girlfriends.  Most of the boys didn't recognize her all dressed up like she was.  Secondly, she did get asked out to dance by a boy, but when they reached the dance floor it was a slow dance and he "didn't feel comfortable".  Something wrong with guys obviously.

She is Spotted by the Neighbors

Anyhow, I leave you with my favorite picture (above) and quote of the evening.  Quote came from Alora who, upon seeing Kaylee in the dress said, "Wow, you look just like Cinderella!".

Big Happenings

Lots of happenings this week.

Sicknesses
Marie had an anaphylaxis reaction Sunday night.  I administered the epinephrine shot and called 911.  I was worried I'd lost her, but the paramedics got her to the hospital in time.  We spent several hours in the hospital and then went home.  She's on more medications, and we can only hope some more tests will yield some clue as to the cause.  Thus ends our 16 month non-hospital ride streak.  It is scary, but something we need to live with.

Monday night Arionna got sick and started her imitation of Linda Blair.  Real pleasant.  Then I flew off to Houston.  This is the third trip I've made this year where I left the day after one the children got sick.

Home Repairs
Fixed the master bedroom shower drain (it was leaking) and the basement sink (no water coming out).

New Permanent Resident
The wife and I offered our nephew to stay with us indefinitely.  We have given him some time to think about it.  He is 16 years old, but Marie and I hope he decides to stay.  We believe we can help him get his life back on track and get him through school.

Well, that should be enough for this week's post.

Working Overtime! or Reasons I Didn't Blog Last Two Weeks

Work was crazy last few weeks.  First,there was the Microsoft Management Summit, which was March 21st through March 26th.  Why would that take up two weeks?  The company I work for installs security software on the MS machines for CommNet and ShowNet.  This requires my compatriot (Kevin Colby of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) and I to fly out a few days early and set up.

Kevin flew out Friday, and it was pretty obvious he was gone given the number of support requests from customers coming in that day.  Always seems to happen, the man leaves, everyone needs attention.  Just a Murphy's Law of Support I guess.

I flew out Saturday and arrived at the Mandalay Bay resort around 4:30 pm.  The next two days consisted of meeting up with our Microsoft buddies and getting the systems in place.  The Microsoft people you don't see, the ones that work behind the scenes setting up the networks, etc., they are a great bunch and seem almost like a family.  No surprise given they have to work under tight deadlines, near flawless execution, and wherever the computers go they must travel together.  When we work with them at MMS each year it is more like Kevin and I are distant cousins to the crew: part of the family that misses some of the in-jokes.

There was some downtime during the installation process: setting up SQL Server software can take a while to install, so Kevin and I did manage to grab a bite to eat at Ri Ra's, an Irish Pub that we frequented several times.  We also visited the Manadalay Bay Aquarium.  Kevin wanted to jump in the Piranha tank, but fortunately I was there to prevent him from carrying through with that action.  After all, Piranha's don't eat people, what he really wanted was the Shark tank!   (<-- ok, that is a joke).

As always, MMS was interesting: meeting new people, talking to customers, catching up with friends at various booths, the Food (goodness, I could right a blog on the foods in Vegas alone), and then a flight home.

I returned Thursday, exhausted, but was back at work on Friday to cover Support while Kevin flew home. The next two days were spent resting and recovering to be ready for work on Monday.  So, it has a been busy two weeks.

Last comment on the food: If you find yourself at Mandalay Bay, go to Ri Ra's and order the Moors and Bay.  It was exquisite!