I have not posted here in quite some time. I have recently written my own blogging software (in python of course) and am continuing this journal there.

I'm curious as to how long I will actually keep that one up to date. :)

Anyway, that journal is located at: http://www.pobox.com/~taw/journal-pub-taw/

I may continue to post here occassionally. Hmm... what I really need to do is cross pollenate the two. I will stick that thought on my todo list.

In memoriam: Steve Taylor, Aug 7th, 1966 - Jun 17th 2003.
Red Hat will miss you.

Home purchase in progress!

Monica and I searched forever. We are in the process of buying a house with six wooded acres and a gorgeous stream running right through the middle of the property.

The house is fairly spacious, but has only two bedrooms (we'll work on that). The original resident was himself a builder, so the construction is superior and has a lot of nice touches: hardwood/tile flooring, vaulted living-room ceiling with skylights, fireplace, kitchen with a Jenn-Air[tm] island, sunroom with hot-tub! and marble floors, a deck and a screened-in porch.

There are only three downsides: the neighborhood is so-so, it has only two bedrooms (affects resale), and the commute will be 45-50 minutes to work everyday. The neighborhood is rapidly growing so if we live there long enough, things should change. We can always add another bedroom in the future. The commute -- we'll learn to live with it and buy fuel-efficient vehicles.

Jester (the dog) is going to love running around in the woods. Well, I suppose I will love running around in the woods as well. Can't wait.

You can see some pix here.

Just under a year since I have last posted. Much has happened in that time period. Since I can't really cover it all, I will just hit a few points.

Significant Events

I got married! 2002-02-17 I got married to my long-time sweety Monica. We did it (the only way to get married) on a whale-watching cruise in Maui. It was absolutely wonderful.

New addition to the family. Jester Warner. He just turned one on 2003-01-04 (my b-day as well). He's a handfull as my chewed up couch can attest.

ETSed (Estimated Time of Seperation) from the military. I.e., my obligation is over. I served 9.25 years (3.25 active duty Army, 6 years Army National Guard (Ohio and North Carolina)). My last day was 2002-11-20. I left as a Staff Sergeant and M1A1 Tank Commander. It's been fun, but... time to go.

Work

Plugging away on Red Hat Network. We serve quite a few servers now (not sure if I am permitted to disclose precisely how many). We are quite proud of our service. I personally have been focused on installers for the RHN Proxy Server and RHN Satellite Server; and other useful things. I've also been prepping gzipstream to be pushed to the python folks. We'll see if they accept it. It's useful; dunno if there is a better methodology for streaming gzip content though. We'll see.

Other

Looking at houses currently. We've looked at over 20+ houses. We found two we liked, but got beaten to the punch by other buyers. House hunting sucks, BTW! I really despise it. We'll find something eventually I suppose.

Currently on the reading list:

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville (1851) --- A truly fantastic book. As is true for many books from many years ago, the reading is a bit slow due to language differences, and Melville tends to run off on certain tangents. Great book though.

Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig (1999) --- Is there a more important partison to the free/open-source software world? I'm not sure there is. A deep thinking and generally brilliant person. I haven't gotten far yet, but wow.

It has been some time since I last wrote. 2001-09-11 to be precise... the big, bad, evil day. A lot has happened since then, but, I will not elaborate much.

Work

Work is currently immensely busy with Red Hat Network and neat things to come. Gotta love it when a project gets bumped up in schedule. YEAH! GREAT! Sleep would be good. I don't have enough time to do much other than work... which is a shame.

National Guard

We've been busily prepping for and executing gunnery. We shot Tank Table IV, V, VI, and VII. Now for the real test: Tank Table VIII. This is the one that really tests a crew. I have a good crew but my command control of the tank are not at their best. You can tell I don't do this full time. :)

xboids

I included this here as a reminder that I have not pushed ahead with it. Red Hat Linux 8.0 (or whatever version it ends up being) will be coming out eventually and I want this screensaver to be in it!!! It may not be accepted unless I make it (a) faster, and (b) make those boids FLAP!

love

Monica and I are doing better than ever. She is as sick as a dog right now, but... She is now full-time as the Program Director for a Spa Health Clubs in Durham, NC. She has only worked there for a few months, but, they love her! She got her Certified Personal Trainer qualification, and has been helping people become healthier. She enjoys it. That is the most important thing.

family

My sister-in-law and brother just reproduced again. That makes 5 nieces I have now. My sister-in-law on Monica's side has one in the oven as well. Though we say we are rooting for a boy, I secretly don't want to break the streak. More girls! I love being an uncle.

I finally met more of Monica's family. That was nice. Her grandmother and 10 Uncles, etc. on her fathers side. Neat people; very Kentucky. ;)

Over the December holidays, I finally got to see my two grandmothers as well. I just don't get to see them often enough.

other

Monica and I are headed to Hawai'i in February. I cannot wait. It will be a blast. Plus I have a surprise for her there as well. More to follow...

I have a slew of projects in my head I want to do. Just no time. Here's a sampling:

buy a router and link my three computers together. Learn a bit of networking with Linux in the process.

get a cable modem and static IP.

set up a "family" + whatever website/webapplication, probably using Zope. Zope is cool.

code more speed into xboids, package it, and add flapping boids!

read read read

find time to relax (won't happen)

play more with PERL, C, C++, maybe even a bit of Java.

start working with Python v2.2.*.

get back into my workout routine. I hurt my back recently and it has been two months that I have not been working out much. For shame.

get back into contact with old friends.

get more sleep.