Tao Of Foo

Since www.nathananderson.com is more of a family sharing website these days I thought I’d move my development stuff and blog over here out of the way. So here goes.

I know every parent thinks it, but honestly Ben is pure genius. I mean what other (nearly) 5 month old knows how to use a laptop?

For those interested in a quick comparison in baby photos…click for larger version

This weekend my parents had a going-away party for a bunch of friends and family. It was great seeing everybody, especially those I hadn’t seen in 12 years or more. The party was lots of fun, but later in the evening it really started to hit home that they wouldn’t be as close to us as they are now. We have known for a few months now that they would have to move but seeing the For Sale sign at the street really hits home.

I’m really going to miss the random dinners over at their place. That house has really become part of the family with all the work they put into it. I’ll never forget clearing all the cedar from the lot, leveling the driveway, building the deck, pouring the patio and walkway and all the other work we did. And that’s not even mentioning all the work Mom and Dad did making that house what it is today. Ugh!

I couldn’t have asked for a better first Fathers Day. Ben and I got to spend almost the entire day together. He was in the best mood! We read together for quite a while and every time I turned the page in his book he let out a little squeak of excitement. Amy and I were laughing so hard we almost couldn’t read. It was wonderful.

We got lots of rain early Sunday morning and quite a bit of hail (pea to large grape sized). Not much damage other than a few dings on the cars. That’s what we get for parking in the driveway I guess.

The family reunion was a blast. Ben absolutely loved swimming. We can’t wait to take him again. It’s always good to see everybody. Now that there are kids runnung around it’s making us “kids” feel a little older.

Ben is growing like a weed! He was 15 pounds at him 8 week checkup. Now he’s 9 weeks old and yesterday he rolled over from his back to his tummy. Ahh. Proud pappa.

Work is keeping me very busy. The new position is challenging because I am no longer able to spend the majority of my time programming. Now I run interference between the rest of the company and my developers, plan out the direction of the websites I direct, train the new developers, and get to program from time to time. It’s a good gig though and I love every minute of it.

Last week I received a promotion at work. I am now the “Director of Online Operations”. This means I am responsible for all public facing websites including the main website, our customer portal and a few other minor sites.

We took some pictures of Ben in a field of bluebonnets over the weekend. He started getting a little fussy though as the sun came out. Poor guy. We’ll have to try again when it’s a little more cloudy. I’d like to get Daisy in there too.

Oh, and today is my birthday. Happy birthday to me. Mom (or should I say Grandma) is coming over tonight to watch Ben so Amy and I can go out to eat. It’s wierd though, it doesn’t really feel like a Birthday. I guess with Ben and the promotion I’ve been a little distracted lately and it doesn’t even feel like it’s my birthday.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but my parents are definately moving to Ft Worth. Bummer. They aren’t too happy about it either, but they don’t have much choice. It looks like we’ll be making lots of trips up north for a while.

After playing with RedHat 9 on a test workstation for the last week, I decided to take the plunge and install it on my laptop. All I have to say is WOW! Very clean install, awesome hardware detection, easy to use etc….

Read on to see the details.

Ben is 5 weeks old today. 5 weeks have passed and he still brings tears to my eyes at times.

It looks like we’re having lots of visitors in the next few weeks. Myk will be down from Chicago and Marisa and Seth will be down from Wichita Falls. I can’t wait for everybody to meet Ben!

If you are interested in helping to show support for our troops:

• DefendAmerica
• http://www.4troops.com/
• International Red Cross

Isn’t this the best? In honor of the UT Mens Basketball team making it to the Final Four (first time since 1947), Ben is wearing his orange and white. It’s a 0-3 month outfit that’s already almost too small for him. That’s ok though, we already have a larger UT outfit for him.