me talking out loud

it has been a crazy week. Started out pretty good - but then my mom got sick. Very sick. She is doing well now but I have to admit to being a bit of a basket case for a while, until I knew more. Add to that missing almost 2 days of work (because I wanted to be ready to go to her if needed) that I chose to make up rather then use my vacation (moving to the house we are buying - need the vacation time then) and Kayla coming out… and it has been none stop. Sad to say - but I need the move just to relax.

Well we made the flight and the drives (though I was hallucinating by the end of the first day - was kinda fun), picked up the dogs and dropped them off at my dad’s and finally made it to Georgia. All is going well except we have no home - but that will take time to find and organize. Luckily we have a room at the TVQ (Temporary Visitors Quarters) on the Kings Bay base - and I have to say - it isn’t to shabby for $30/night.

Today was a busy day. We hit up the Housing office (only got lost twice trying to find it) to see if they have any referrals for the area we want to live in (they don’t). So we took a drive to the area to just look around the area and maybe for a realtor. Liked the area (on a clear drive it is only 20 minutes away from the base) and found a real estate company that seems nice. Got a number of potential places to cruise through the neighborhoods to see if we like them. Talked to the bank about getting a mortgage and need to call a number to get a pre-qualifying value so we have a better idea of how much we can spend. Took a base tour to see some of the base’s services (gas is 2.96 on base) only to find they aren’t many and they are much smaller then we are used to but that is OK since we will primarily getting stuff out in town.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so everything will be closed. Sounds like a wonderful time to just sit back and relax for the day. Friday is soon enough to run around some more.

Well we have finished moving out of the house and are now in the hotel - 2 days and a wake up left until we go. Only one problem - the hotels internet in the rooms is out… and with the dogs in the room - I can’t sit around the lobby all day (the lobby internet doesn’t allow irc either) … *sigh*. So I will primarily be offline for a while, least until the get the room internet back up (heavan only knows how long that will be) or we get to the states - whichever happens first.

Yep - in less then one week we will be back in the states. So many things to still get done before the end of the week but everything seems to be organized and scheduled…

1) house - final pack out (Tuesday), final cleaning (in progress), yard cleaned (due by Monday) and final mowing, carpets cleaned (todo this weekend);
2) appliances - picked up on Tuesday;
3) bags packed - mostly - due by Tuesday;
4) dogs - tickets (done), crates (done), flight itinerary (done)… need to contact continental cargo for info on how to turn them in at 4AM, heath certificates (Vet Tuesday 10:20), need to drop that off at Dept of Agriculture for Guam vet to sign - pick up in 24 hours;
5) hotel reservations (accepts dogs) for the few days between when we move out and fly out - done;
6) hotel reservations for when we get there - done - need to reconfirm;
7) car - rented and can be dropped off at the airport when we fly out;
8) family notified - some - need to complete this weekend;
9) landlord final walk through inspection - Sunday;
10) sell the last car - dependent on husband;
11) Our tickets - bought and paid for - have passports available - fly out Sat the 17th at 07:30

Hope that is everything… If not - I am so screwed.

As much as I loved going to Zend Con - I now have to shoot someone from it. Why you ask - simple. They gave me bronchitis (irrelevant that my immune system was depressed from the jet lag ). As many friends know I have been battling a cold since I got back from Zend Con. Last night (Friday evening) along with my now standard hacking cough and runny nose I gained a few other symptoms - an earache, sore throat, and an on again, off again fever. Husband made me go to the Emergency Room since my doctor’s office was closed only to get the diagnosis - bronchitis (same as his). Oh joy.

So now I am drugged to the gills on antibiotics, cough suppressants and decongestants… I hate taking drugs but hopefully I will sometimes soon be able to sleep the whole night through without waking up every couple hours to hack up a lung. I don’t believe I am going to say this but… please drugs - hurry up and work!

Now I definitely know it is time to leave Guam since my time here has come full cirlce.

The first week I arrived on Guam, it was trying to tell me something. My husband and I got into a car accident. Now that may not sound like much but considering the last car accident I was in was back when I was in high school (no I won’t say when - just that it was a LONG time ago), it was definitely a moment to remember.

So what happens today… less then a month before we leave Guam… yep - we got into another car accident. *sigh* - life coming full circle.

Nothing like a grass/jungle fire burning around your house to get the blood flowing. It was pretty cool after the fire department notified me that the fire was near by (they did a good job of keeping the majority of it away from the house). So I moved the cars out of the way and didn’t have to worry about the Jeep rag top catching on fire. that could have been… interesting.

Anyway - the fire burned around the house coming to the fence at places (the flare up reached 10′ to 20 ‘ at times). and yes - we did have to break out the garden hose a couple of times to keep it back. all in all - an interesting afternoon here on the little island of Guam.

(Note: IT Crowd rules - hehe)

Good night Uncle Eddie. Sleep well and rest (you fought a good fight) until we all meet again. You will be missed. My love to you.

Sorry for being so quiet lately. Hubby is in the Gulf right now doing his military thing and won’t be home any time soon (He was told one day and the next he flew out - plenty of warning don’t ya think). So with him gone I have been working hard on the book when not at the normal job. Have managed to get a little ahead - though I have been a bit lazy these past couple days trying to relax (over working and not sleeping well - never do sleep well when the hubby is gone).

At least I am not sleep deprived anymore - though not completely relaxed either. Probably won’t be till he gets back. You would think that after 11 years of having to do this it would be easier… *sigh*

Anyway - life is quiet and yet hectic at the same time. Feel like hurry up and rush is all I seem to be doing lately. Ok - I’ll stop whining now.

Well it seems that like last year we were meant to start the new year shaking things up. In the last 2 days in the early morning hours we have had 2 earthquakes - one on the 7th (5.0) and one this morning the 9th (4.5) local time. Now I wouldn’t normally mention them since they are so small - but dang - they woke me up and that irritates me. doesn’t help that I live in the hills on top of the fault line.

This is for my family (though I admit i doubt they will get it) since most of my friends already know about this comic. I have to admit - even I don’t understand some of them but these two bust me up every time.

From the xkcd comic strip:

I have to admit - I am not one of the great PHP coders. Just a normal Joe (or in my case Jane) here. But I wanted to look back on the year to see what I have learned and done as well as how much the year has changed me.

Well I started 2006 with an earthquake on the January 4th. Talk about shaking up the new year. The only really interesting thing I posted about was a simple question - Who owns your code? Well and a plug for the #phpc channel on freenode.

February had me reading “Objects, Patterns and Practice” (which I still haven’t finished), learning about the phpDoc plugin for Vim (I love that thing), changing hosting services (had to do some modifications on the site to get it working on the new one), and having to cancel my trip to the Philippines to see my dad while he is out here.

March had the first release of the Zend Framework - which I promptly played with for a while but didn’t come back to until the end of the year, and my taking and passing the MySQL4 Core Certification test.

April saw my good friend Davey start of the PHP thinktank channel on freenode (yep - another channel I normally am on), the start of the call for the Google Summer of Code, and my Dad flying out from the Philippines to visit me.

May was quiet since my dad was visiting. I was writing a few basic phpt tests for the QA team at the time and made a couple of notes to myself.

June saw me upgrade the blog and bring it to it’s current implementation, my daughter come out from California and get diving certified, me becoming a codewalkers admin, an apress technical editor, and get Part I of my MySQL Stored Procedures article accepted for phparchitect’s A/R/T.

July was when I almost killed myself out of good old fashioned stupidity. That was fun and I still have the scars. Anyway - it was also the month when we took our Australia trip which was fabulous. Have the pictures to prove it.

August had Part II of the MySQL Stored Procedures article go up on A/R/T, my posting of 25 ways to help PHP and the guys on Pro::PHP podcasting mentioning me because of it, the first glimmers of the PHPCommunity site being moved to ning (which it later did do), my daughter flying back to the US to live with her biological father, and my being hired for a new job.

September saw me start my current job, remember Sept 1t1h and cry again, and do a blog post on MySQL user defined functions. So it was a pretty quiet month.

October had me turn a year older, make the call for PHP women to stand up and be counted (which in turn lead to the start of the PHPWomen.org site). I also managed to take and pass the PHP4 Zend certification test.

November saw the beginning of the holiday craziness, my mother-in-law coming out for a visit, and my husband reenlisting for the last time (he will be retiring from the military after this). Basically anything PHP related was put on a back burner.

And finally, December had the book I was tech editing being published, my being asked to help write a book with a friend, and though I haven’t posted on it a return for me to working with the Zend Framework.

All in all it has been an incredible year for me with so many opportunities and lots fun along the way. So what are my goals for this next year?

1. finish the book I am helping write and see it published
2. get PHP5 ZCE
3. get MySQL5 developer certified
4. learn Javascript and DOM
5. either go back to the little bit of C# I know and become more comfortable in it - or try a new lang. Not sure which
6. Attend a PHP conference

Cross your fingers so hopefully I get to do them all next year.

Normally when i write something I do it because I want to with no deadlines no pressure and only the occasional editor to “suggest” alternate ways of writing an area. Man - this writing thing is hard! Deadlines, formats, style sheets, Oh my.

Now don’t get me wrong - I am enjoying the whole thing (sent out my first chapter today). But I have to admit that coming home from work to write and code for 4 hours EVERY day kinda sucks for me and my family. My husband is actually cooking dinner so I have more time to write (granted pizza and hamburger helper is a common dinner choice - but still) - he is doing it!

So to all the authors out there - I salute you. Never again will I pick up a book and not appreciate all the work you went through to make it. Thanks.

Been going crazy the past couple days - cooking like mad. On Sunday we had an early Thanksgiving dinner with Mom, and a number of friends (Ham, garlic cheese mashed potatoes, traditional family stuffing, peas and bacon, gravy, salad, biscuits, pumpkin and apple pies) and then on Monday Jason reenlisted in the Navy for an additional 3 years. We threw a BBQ at one of the beaches to celebrate. Only had ~15 people there since we wanted something small. Ribs, ribeye steaks, and brats with the various sides for that one.

Have to admit having 2 major cooking events going on right after each other was a bit more cooking then I have done in a very long time and I am friggin’ tired. Mom and Jason are worth it though.

Ok - I finally have uploaded some of my pictures. I have the Tokai Maru pictures Jason took as well as the Halloween pictures from at my job.

I have only gotten half way through the pictures we took today with Mom so I will be finishing those tomorrow and posting them. Though I am still unsure where I will post them - Family or Guam… so many decisions

Well my mom-in-law made it in tonight. She flew in from Maine USA and her travel time was 32 hours (she over-nighted in Houston). Jason is very excited to have his mom out so be prepared for pictures to be posted later.

hey everyone,
kayla here. anyway chapter 8 is finally here. it may not have felt long for you but it did for me. well here ya go

Well I’ve been at the new job for 1 week now and man is there a lot to learn. I have to admit though that it is areas that I really enjoy so I’m having fun.

The down side of it is that I have no time to do anything else. I’m kinda going through PHP people withdrawals since I don’t get the chance to do all that I normally do. I feel so out of the loop - no phpdeveloper, blogs, codewalkers, phpc… Aaahhhh!

Life Lessons:

1. Life is not fair; get used to it.
2. The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
3. You will not make $40,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
6. If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try “delousing” the closet in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
9. Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
10. Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

hey,
chapter 7 is here, so here you are sorry it took so long to write such a short chapter. i’ve been messing around and playing on the internet (you know teen stuff). any way i am open for comments.