Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Everett Family Blog is back online

If you happen to host a web site on your machine, please be aware that upgrading to ZoneAlarm 5 can be troubling.

Zonealarm is a firewall that helps to protect a computer from the evil that exists on the Internet. I have been using it for at least 4 years with no issues.

Seems like the most recent update just wasn't quite ready for primetime. I have been involved in software releases that had similiar problems, that is never fun.

All traffic passes thru Zonealarm between my machine and the Internet. The bug (defect) is that Zonealarm was corrupting the information being sent from my web server to the Internet. Causing all sorts of weird things to happen.

Pretty frustrating at times over the weekend but very relieved to have finally solved it.


Friday, June 25, 2004

Example of things that I have completely forgotten

I used to be smart... Uses of trigonometry via Wikipedia has demonstrated just how much I have forgotten.

I have used things such as Fourier series and Fourier transform 16 years ago in college. Could I reacquint myself with the ideas? Maybe, but I am not confident.

Check out this page on Fourier transform. Now when I see things like this I think "huh?". The Tim of 1988 was a completely different person.

Lately I have needed to use the calculator in Windows to simply add numbers together.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Next Project

The next project that I am going to fund is my backyard. Approaching 9 years of being in the house, it is probably time to get the backyard put in.

I use the word "fund" because I am very fortunate and grateful to be able to pay for the work, with the big big real reason that I am simply lazy. My Dad can attest to that fact since I always tried to make myself scarce when there was yard work to do growing up.

I am having the weeds taken care of this weekend. On my return from the last trip to CT, I had a letter from the City of San Jose, informing me of the code violation that is called my backyard.

Next week on Tuesday, I will be meeting with a landscape company to get a quote on both design work as well as installation.

I have a few ideas about how I want the backyard. Sam and I had many discussions and it will be great to see some of our ideas come to life.

The three key ideas are:
- patio area that is private from the neighbors around me
- fountain / water feature
- plants that are fragrant, with the possiblitity of attracting hummingbirds and butterflies (I believe butterflies are attracted by flowers... another reason I need a landscape designer)

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Tim, Gorilla, and Kimberly



Picture taken at SBC Restaurant and Brewery in Stamford, CT.

Kimberly is a good friend that works in the Sunnyvale office. She lives in Santa Cruz, CA. Oddly enough we haven't had dinner together in years... it took both of us being on a business trip to get together.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Poem for Sam

Below is part of an email that I received from Nikki. She asked me to share it and I am very glad to. Thanks Nikki

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While it is difficult to move forward with less intensity in the feelings of missing her, it is also comforting to know the healing is happening. I have found that when we lose someone the pain is often difficult to let go of, perhaps because it's what we have left and when it fades with the healing it can be a confusing transition. Nowadays I smile so much more when I remember Sam and when I speak of her the tears don't really come. Acceptance is, of course, a necessary part.

A few months ago I had an interesting experience with a bobcat and Sam. It was deep and spiritual.

For a few days I'd been caught in Samantha thought. Wishing she were here... having so much I wanted to share with her. Me...my kids...time had brought depth to my realization which is the difficult part for me.

Anyway, I was up very early one morning and I heard without really hearing, a bobcat and I looked out my window just before it walked out from behind the van. I got a sense of knowing, once it passed through and down the driveway and gone that it was Sam...the following is what I wrote after then dusting of her picture in a flood of tears I needed to shed once again.

Today I miss you
Tears falling washing my heart
Sharing joy is gone

Vanishing I thought
Still in my heart you remain
Closer than I thought

BOBCAT SAM

I saw you today
I heard you but not
I caught a glimpse as you walked
( pranced, strutted, glided) out into the open
pausing twitching revealing
and you continued your path alone
I, alone, saw you today.

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Rules/Routines of Tim (ROT)

In my continous search for content for the blog, I was given a great idea. I have a set of basic rules and routines that I tend to apply thru out my life. Usually they are very minor and trival, and humorous to me when I notice them. They should be a decent source of posting.

There is the possibility though that it will make everybody think I am wackier than they already know. Here is the first one:

ROT#1: I will always take 3 napkins while having lunch at work. 5 napkins if I am eating at McDonalds.

Monday, June 07, 2004

Would be a cool trip

June 21st in Mohave California, the first privately funded spacecraft will attempt to become the world's first commercial manned space vehicle.

I have written about this project previously, very cool stuff!!

CNN.com - Private spacecraft blast offs June 21

SpaceShipOne will rocket to 62 miles (100 kilometers) into sub-orbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center, a commercial airport in the California desert. If successful, "it will signal that the space frontier is finally open to private enterprise," explained a Scaled Composites release. - Quote from the story.

Scaled Composites web site - Builders of the spacecraft.

Photos on the Scaled Composites site

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Make your own "punch line"

Picture 1:



Picture 2:

Attitude (Smile!!)

Below is another email from Sandy that deserves to turn into a post on the Everett Family Blog.

I had read a book at least two years ago that helped me understand the ideas in the below story. Essentially taught me that I have the ability to consciously decide to be happy or not. I can decide when it is appropriate for me to be angry and to show it just as well. Thru the last year, understanding the idea, accepting that when I was feeling sad to accept the feelings and truly feel the sadness since it was my decision was and is extremely helpful.

If I remember, I will try to find the book if anybody is interested.

The email:

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant in South Philly. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him "how he was doing", he would always reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs, so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious. So, one day, I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! No one can be a positive person all the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today: I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood. I always choose to be in a good mood.

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I always choose the positive side of life."

"But it's not always that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Jerry said, Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. It's your choice how you live your life."

Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: he left the back door of his restaurant open one morning and was robbed by three armed men.

While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared?" I asked.

Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything." 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead'."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it. The only thing that is truly yours --that no one can control or take from you -- is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.