The Clarke Family News

-- 22 December 2006 [Friday] I'm heading home for my 11 days off! They let us go early! Going to stop at Radio Shack on the way home to try to pick up some LED lights for the train station I got for Keegan last night for Christmas. Afterall, he did ask Santa that it be lit! :) I picked up 4 freight cars (Amanda and I assembled them last night - was actually fun, and they are 1/2 the cost of the pre-assembled ones). I also got him four more pieces of curved track and four pieces of straight, so he should be good to go. I stopped at Borders and got my Dad a $25 gift card as he likes to go there and have coffee and thumb through magazines. I'll try to update this once during the holidays, but it may be hard! Take care everyone and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-- 21 December 2006 [Thursday] Getting ready to leave work now. Been a pretty easy day as things are winding down and the RMS 4.6.0 release I have been working on comes to a close tomorrow hopefully. Going to try to go to Tom's Train store on the way home to exchange the railroad track I bought for Keegan for a little lesss track, but then add a car and a lighted house (which he asked Santa for). I still have to buy my dad something, but I have no idea what. I'll probably get him a Borders gift certificate as he stops there a lot for coffee and to read magazines if I remember correctly. Today is Keegan's last day of school before Christmas break. He is very excited of course. After his recess they are watching a Polar Express short video and having snacks and a book read to them, so I'm sure he'll of had fun. -- 20 December 2006 [Wednesday] Worked from home today. Amanda ended up working all day which is good money wise as she does not work the next t...

-- 18 December 2006 [Monday] I'm only working 1/2 day today as we have Carson's school birthday party at 2pm at Pump-It-Up. We couldn't get the Saturday reservation as they were booked months in advance. ugh. Now we know better for next time if we want to have it there again. I'll leave at Noon, and then go pick Keegan up from school. -- 17 December 2006 [Sunday] Grandma Starr had to go home tonight. She works tomorrow and unfortunately can't take a lot of time off as she does not have paid vacation. I feel very bad for the kids because of this, but not much we can do unless we move back..which I have thought of but Amanda does not want to. Kids still had a great time today with her. Beautiful weather - 72F! They played outside all day and we had a nice lunch on the deck and then some more playing. Carson was so worn out from the last two days that he fell asleep at 4pm, and woke just in time to say bye to Grandma as Amanda, Keegan and Ian were taki...

-- 12 December 2006 [Tuesday] Another super busy day at work. This release is just getting crazier the closer it gets to the deadline. I'm counting the days until we are done. -- 11 December 2006 [Monday] Crazy day at work. I came in early as I had to be home in time to meet Keegan at the bus stop since Amanda took Ian and Carson to a birthday party for Anastasia (Carson's Class) at Pump-It-Up. They had a great time and were home around 6pm. As Amanda pulled in the driveway, Ian threw up in the truck. Yuck. But luckily the car seat and floor mats caught it all. We really thought he was over his sickness. He seemed fine afterwards. I think it was too much for his stomach after having not really eaten for a day or so. Keegan and I had a nice QUIET time at home from 4-6pm. We talked, he watched a movie while I finished work, and then we worked on his homework. It was really nice. As soon as Carson and Ian were home though, it was like a spark in Keegan and he got wild again. I gue...

-- 08 December 2006 [Friday] I can't wait for the weekend! We have two weeks left before this big RMS 4.6.0 project is to be completed at work, and believe me, I'm counting the days! This is the last weekend before Grandma Starr comes out to visit for Carson's 4th birthday. That will be a fun time for all and the weekend will sure go fast because of it. -- 07 December 2006 [Thursday] Very busy day at work in the morning. Got a lot done, but it was stressful. Keegan stayed home from school today as yesterday after he got home he came down with a stomach bug and was throwing up until about 11pm. Turns out five people were out of school from his class that day all with the same thing, and luckily it only lasted for about 12 hours. So someone transmitted that around. Yuck! Amanda said by lunchtime he was bouncing around and back to his normal self, so she would say "we can still bring you to school you know" - and he would then settle down a bit. :) We all had a nice ...

-- 1 December 2006 [Friday] Boy the time is going fast. I can't believe that it has already been over a week since Thanksgiving! I called my parents today as we heard they get hit with their first big storm of the winter. Sure enough they said they had 12+ inches on the ground and it was still snowing. Luckily my dad was able to get the snowblower started as he told me he was having trouble with it when we was out. My mom even decided to stay home from work today which I'm thankful for. I hope to head up to Harbor Freight store after work to finally use some of the coupons they keep emailing me. I keep trying to go on lunch but something always comes up, so tonight I'm determined to stop by there. I really want to get an IR Thermometer so I can see how hot the Ural cylinders are running. -- 30 December 2006 [Thursday] Nothing exciting as far as me. Worked as usual. At night I finally started the process of taking the first of the Ural's carbs apart to try ...

-- 28 November 2006 [Tuesday] YIKES! it's been nearly two weeks since my last entry. I am terribly sorry. It just seems to get so hectic when the holidays approach. I will remember as much as I can, for the blanks I leave I am sorry. Today is another normal day at work. Grandpa Tom is leaving for home tonight on the 7:45pm flight. Amanda or I (if I get home in time) is taking him to the airport and then our plan is to bring the kids to Golden Corral for dinner since it's Kids' night on Tuesday and they eat for .99 cents each and we haven't been in about three weeks. It's another beautiful day outside I'm told. In the high 60's/low 70's! Wow and it's soon December 1st. Amazing. I sure do wish for a colder winter though with a lot of snow for the kids (and me!). -- 27 November 2006 [Monday] Back to work. Yuck. I sure do enjoy my days off and look forward to my 11 days of vacation starting Dec 23rd! I had my first ever MRI done. It was on my right knee....

--16 November 2006 [Thursday] I'm not sure how much longer I can keep up with this blog! I think I'm getting weighed down in the details in my attempt to capture every last minute detail for our kids to recall when they grow up. Sheesh, how do I even know they will want to read this stuff later on. It could be so very boring to them. I remember when I was younger I knew about my mothers and fathers enormous slide/print collection of all their memories, but that's about it. I never delved into it much and still haven't to this day. But now as I get older I do think about the day that I will go back and view them all (and I know I will). I guess as long as they are still around though I'd prefer to interact with their current being and stories rather than the past. There is time enough for that later .. I hope. As far as today, it's a normal day. Pouring down rain and a windy though. I got soaked on the drive in. First time getting in the car, then back out as I f...

-- 09 November 2006 [Thursday] I can't believe it's November already - and almost ten days into it at that! It's exciting as I like the holidays because of all the family time. Another typical day at work. Today was Keegan's last day before his second track out starts. He's quite excited. It will be easier on me for awhile as I should be able to get into work earlier and leave earlier as I don't have to wait to drop him off if I'm ready to go earlier. It all depends on how quickly I can get myself going of course. It was very nice and warm out today and tomorrow is suppose to be near 80F! A near record. I'm going to ride the motorcycle in tomorrow as neither Carson nor Keegan has school so I can leave home early and don't need the car to carry them to dropoff. We plan on going to the zoo on Saturday. The kids don't seem to excited, but I think once they get there they will like it. Very odd that they both said they don't want t...

-- 06 November 2006 [Monday] Another typical Monday as far as I can tell. I'm at work as usual after dropping the kids off at school. Nothing unusual so far. Hope it stays that way. -- 05 November 2006 [Sunday] It was Keegan's turn for a birthday party today. We went to Jack Cummings' birthday party at the 'local' putt-putt golf/go kart/arcade type of place. Amanda and I had been there one time before long ago to play golf during the summer. This time we all went (we paid for the other kids and ourselves). They all had a good time. It was crowded and kind of cool outside. Carson went on his first official by HIMSELF go-kart ride!!! I was so proud of him. Keegan wouldn't do it of course, so Carson went instead. It was on the kiddie carts - still a real go-kart, just limited by the throttle lock. He strapped in and went. He had a hard time at first as he couldn't push the gas pedal down far enough as his legs were too short, but he did amaz...

-- 03 November 2006 [Friday] It's Friday! Yay!!! I took the first half of the day off today as I volunteered at Keegan's school in the morning. I was a bit nervous thinking about it, but ended up having a great time. I didn't get to help at Keegan's table but he kept saying "Hi Dad" when he walked by. I loved it. Made me smile. The kids just talk 100mph and when one comes up with something to talk about they all jump on that wagon and give their 'view' or 'rehash' of it. It was very funny. After center time I stayed for their snack and was able to sit at the 'Red' table between Keegan and Jack (one of his two best friends, Timothy is the other). It was great. I had them laughing it up. They tried to guess how old I was, I also told them I was the 1990 Tic-Tac-Toe champion and was on TV and that I saw the president in the store. You should have seen how big their eyes were about the ..... being on TV as the Tic-Tac-Toe cha...

-- 30 October 2006 [Monday] Yikes! A whole week has gone by since my last post. It was a busy week at work for sure, thus the lack of updates. I think I won't even bother to go back and enter something for the days last week as I can't really think of anything dramatic that happened. I will though enter some things for this past weekend. Today it was a beautiful warm 74F !! Carson had his 'fall festival of fun' at school and had to wear his Halloween costume to school. He looked absolutely addorable this morning. He wanted to be a kitty cat, so that's what he was. A black kitty cat, with ears, a tail, wiskers, etc. Amanda volunteered at the school function so she could see the kids and bring Ian with as well. She said they had a good time. The pony's didn't show up for the pony ride until 11am though, so there wasn't much time to do that. But overall they had a great time. -- 29 October 2006 [Sunday] We bummed around a bit today. Was a very nice warm and...

-- 23 October 2006 [Monday] Another normal day at work. Not busy at all, but boring. Cold out today - high of 58F. Nice in a way for a change but hard on the kids to play outside and get all that energy out. -- 22 October 2006 [Sunday] Rainy and overcast all day. We did some errands during the morning/early afternoon and then at 3pm I took Keegan to another birthday party, this time for Sydney. He wanted me to go again, but this time it was at the YMCA just a couple blocks away from the house, so we were able to walk there which was really nice! The rain had stopped and it was very quiet and peacful outside. I really enjoyed the walk there and back with him. He had a great time at the party overall and ran around and particapted well once he got warmed up. He had a bit of a 'verbal' altercation with Timothy (his best friend he claims) and Aaron (I think). Something about Keegan was going to 'X' Aaron and not invite him to any parties. Ugh. It was very uncomfortable for ...

-- 20 October 2006 [Friday] Got into work early today (7:30am) and leaving to be home around 4pm. We are heading to the NC State Fair when Keegan gets home from school. I just hope he has enough energy. He's usually very tired when he gets home and drags a little. Tomorrow and Sunday Keegan has a birthday party to go to and since Sunday is the last day of the fair we figured we should go tonight. We'll eat dinner there, go on some kiddie rides and walk around. We always seem to have a good time, assuming the kids are cooperating. Got home early enough to meet Keegan at the bus stop. He was suprised to see that and was happy I could tell! Wish I could do that every day. We went to the state fair as planned. Got a great up front parking spot as usual. We all had a great time. Stayed until 10pm and saw the fireworks while we were parked in the lot. Super easy to get out too traffic wise. Just a great time. Carson wanted to go on every ride he saw. He did so well! He w...

-- 19 October 2006 [Thursday] Nothing unusual today, except that it was a nice slow day at work for a change. Having these days now and then is really nice, especially when they come after very busy periods as last week was. -- 18 October 2006 [Wednesday] Worked from home today as I usually do. Dr. Dunsmoor called us and asked Amanda to fill in for their hygienist who needed to leave so that worked out nice, and Amanda was able to get a 1/2 day of work in. Every little extra bit of money helps when we usually only have one income. In the morning before Amanda went to work (she started at 1pm) she brought the Saturn in for it's annual inspection. It failed because of the broken emergency brake button that I have rigged to work now. Ugh. So a little $2 piece is failing it. The emergency brake works just fine, but you need to hands to set it instead of the usual one. So we are going to try to glue it just so it passes inspection and if that doesn't work, I'm going...

-- 16 October 2006 [Monday] Crazy. This whole past week has been crazy. Please forgive me for not updating the entries since the 9th or so. Just another busy work day. Almost done with this 'work package 224' as we call it here. It's the AutoRecruiter Command Line Tool which has consumed my days this whole past week. I hope to be done tomorrow and then RMS 4.6 starts. -- 15 October 2006 [Sunday] I tried to go on a ride on the Ural this morning to get the oil nice and warm and come home and drain it. Got all dressed, tire pressures checked, rolled the bike out, sat on it, and nothing. Wouldn't even clicked. So started looking at wiring, etc. Though, well hopefully it's the battery, so got it all back in the garage and on the charger. Turns out it was the battery! Doh. But in the process I learned some more about the Ural. Took the headlight out and found all the wires and the ancient fuse box. What a mess of wires in there. More than usual because of the previous own...

-- 9 October 2006 [Monday] Normal day at work. Was suppose to be 75F today but I hardly made it outside - all of 30 seconds to test that temperate. Seemed a bit chilly with the wind, so I ate lunch at my desk. Lunch from Sam & Wallys downstairs as is usually the case when I don't bring my lunch. -- 8 October 2006 [Sunday] Yikes, it's actually Oct 16th as I try to go back and fill in the blanks. But I'm drawing a total blank on this one....I'll have to ask Amanda tonight if she remembers what we did this weekend and I'll come back and fill in the details, otherwise I guess all I have is what I just wrote. Work has just been so busy and my brain so drained I haven't been able to keep up with this for about nine days now. Brought the kids to McDonald's aka "The Tree House" as they call it for lunch. We had a nice lunch all of us boys sitting at the table together eating and talking. It helped that they were hungry too. :) We then went in the ...

-- 06 October 2006 [Friday] At work today as usual. Cold and rainy. What a wild and crazy last few days. Carson didn't have school today due to the chemical fire in Apex that we heard about last night. His school is technically in Apex, but just barely. I think it's more to the fact that some of his teachers might not be able to make it in as they may have been evacuated to hotels last night. All speculation on my part as to why his school was cancelled. Keegan had school and I dropped him off this morning. Was raining when I woke up. Good for our new bushes planted. It has really cooled off today. Dropped almost 25F since yesterday so far. Really feels like fall now! I like it. :) Amanda is still feeling kind of sick. She was to pick up a presciption for anti-biotics today to hopefully fight whatever she has. When I get home I'll feed the kids and then have them help me put the table and bench together for our kitchen nook since I finished putting the b...

-- 2 October 2006 [Monday] At work again today as usual. Rode the Guzzi in. About 60 this morning, but very nice and sunny. Suppose to be 80 or so when I leave. Work was work. Day went faster than normal, but at the end of the day I was told a feature was added that I'm responsible for in 4.6 so I wasn't too happy about that. -- 1 October 2006 [Sunday] Nice day out. We went to Bond Park around Noon today to go fishing! I was excited. We caught three fish (we'll I did) and I let each of the kids real one in. They loved it. Even Ian got into it and wanted no help in holding the pole or anything. He got really frustrated when you tried to help. After fishing we tried to feed the ducks but they weren't interested. They were so full they didn't even come over to see what we had. So we all got in the truck and went to Wendy's for lunch which was pretty good. Keegan and Carson were misbehaving a bit as usual - they really wind each other up. On the...

-- 28 September [2006] I'm at work today unfortunately. I'd love to quit this place, my heart just isn't in software anymore - well it hasn't been for years. I was told about some additional work this morning, which just put me over the edge. Not because of the actual work, but because of the last minuteness of it and the disorganization in general. I can't take it. I'm a very structured person. But the field pays so well it's hard to leave. Amanda after nearly 5 1/2 years wants to go back to work which I can understand and I want to stay home, so we have that part figured out. Now it just comes down to money. We can live on Amanda's salary for sure, but the health care is what concerns us. Since most dentists' offices are small they can't offer good (if any) health insurance. We would most likely have to sign up for a third party plan thru Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, which is doable. It's just a scary thing to give up this job, which is wel...

-- 26 September 2006 [Tuesday] Well it had to happen eventually. We are sick. Amanda, myself, Carson and possibly Ian. Keegan seems OK for now, but we'll see if it lasts. Stuffiness, coughing, aching, fever. Not fun. I'm on day two, about one day behind Amanda. I dropped Keegan off at school again today, but this time I walked to his room with him to drop off the big bag of bananas since it was too heavy for him to carry. It's his snack duty one day this week. I got to see his new classroom across the hall from his old one which was nice for me. I really enjoyed walking down the hall with him and talking to him and him pointing things out as well. Very relaxing and fun. -- 25 September 2006 [Monday] Just work again today. I've been dropping Keegan and Carson off at school in the morning since I have enough time to do it and it saves Amanda from having to start the truck up and rush to get ready in the morning. Really works out well, but I can't get home as early bec...

-- 22 September 2006 [Friday] Oh yeah it's Friday! Work has been OK. I still daydream every thirty minutes about quitting and doing something I love. Something physical and preferably outside would be great. I just worry about the finances and especially about health insurance. I know we would get by but actually doing it and taking the plunge is very hard for us - me especially. If I didn't have three children counting on me I would have quit long ago. Maybe next year will be the answer? Who know's what will happen. Doing nothing tonight I hope but taking it easy. Maybe we'll go out for ice cream if the kids are behaving. We'll have to see. Tomorrow I am on call starting at around 1pm for our RMS 4.5 release to production. Shouldn't be too bad, but that means I have to stick around at home and answer the phone and be ready to login if necessary. Amanda is going with the kids to a concert at Regency Park with Pat and Dawn. Should be fun for them...

-- 18 September 2006 [Monday] Back to work today. I hurt. Really got burnt at the beach on my upper half. I always think about it when I'm at the beach, but figure it won't be that bad and then sure enough, it's that bad. Ugh. My fault. We are going to look at a dining room table tonight that we found on Craigslist. Hopefully this will be the one we like as the price and size are right and it comes with eight chairs. I'm a little worried about the color though as it's oak and not our first choice, but there are some lighter oaks that may work. It's nearby so we'll go take a look. -- 17 September 2006 [Sunday] Today the entire day was spent at Wrightsville Beach, NC. We always like that beach, it's one of our favorites and it's the closest. 145 miles it turns out from driveway to parking spot. I ended up riding the Moto Guzzi there, it rolled over 21,000 miles on the return ride home. I averaged 42 mpg which is great considering the approx. 80 m...

-- 15 Sepetember 2006 [Friday] Thank goodness. That's all I can say. Friday. It's not like that will solve my stress problems at work, just put them off a couple of days. We (my parents included of course since they came out yesterday) plan to hit the beach tomorrow and then Sunday go see the Martha Stewart homes and goto a park pehaps. Work is stressfull as I'm the lead of the RMS 4.6.0 project (we all take turns) and I'm trying to learn the project and being new to the group doesn't help. Once I get all this paperwork and scheduling out of the way I hope it becomes better. At least I know it will end in two months - Nov 17th is our deadline. Thank Goodness I'll be able to enjoy the holidays at least and not have this hanging over my head. It's not the amount of work - more so it's the not knowing. Not knowing who to ask, where to go to, what I should have done by this time, etc. I don't like it. Rode the motorcycle into work today so I look forward...

-- 14 September 2006 [Thursday] Ok, at work again. Almost finished. Day went by really slow. Not very busy right now and it drags because of that. So many other things I wish I was doing during the day. Ahhh. My parents were to arrive today around lunch time to visit for several days. I haven't heard otherwise from anyone so I assume they are at the house ok then. Kids have been very excited of course. Keegan is going to be extra exhausted being that he's in school full time now. Next week will be especially hard since they will have been here for awhile then. I believe they are planning on leaving on Tuesday or so, which works out good with our new carpet being installed next Thursday and I have to get the furniture and carpet pulled up before they come - that will be a huge job, but it enables me to make sure the floor is very clean underneath, that all the old staples are pounded in, screw down some squeaky spots and on top of it, saves us about $225. I'm giv...

-- 12 September 2006 [Tuesday] Worked as usual. During lunch I stopped in at 1st Choice Custom Cabinets to choose a cabinet style and go over some details so we can get an estimate from them for remodeling our kitchen. So far they seem very nice, let's hope their prices are reasonable for our budget. Last night I stopped and picked up Boston Market meal on the way home as Amanda thought to do. Was great idea and nice on our anniversary making it easy with the kids. I also stopped and checked out a dining room table she found. It looks nice for six people, but won't fit eight without being squished, so the search continues. It's so frustrating looking for furniture, it's one of my least favorite things to have to shop for. Amanda got the truck tires changed at BJ's today and got a four wheel alignment to go with it. The unfortunately were out of the Michellin's I wanted so we opted for the BF Goodrich, which should be OK and come out to be about $140 c...

-- 11 September 2006 [Monday] Today is Amanda and mine seven year anniversary! What are we doing to celebrate this you wonder? Well, how about I worked, the kids went off to school, Amanda did errands, then we'll cook them dinner, play, read them books and off to bed. :) You see my parents are coming down this Thursday and they have offered to watch the kids so Amanda and I can go out to dinner one night. I plan on taking Amanda to The Angus Barn in Raleigh, since neither of us have been there and we have always wanted to try it. It's VERY expensive, so I don't expect to leave there for less than $100. It's not like we eat there often! This is our first time in the eight years we have lived out here. :) Keegan's first day back at school today after his three week track out. He seemed excited about it and so did Amanda (for some peace and quite). It's nice and cool today for a change. 78F as a high. All week is suppose to be nice. Hopefully we'll have nice we...

-- 7 September 2006 [Thursday] Hard to believe two days have gone by already since I posted an update, but it's true. I am very busy at work now with the RMS 4.6.0 release which I have been appointed to as QA Lead for it. Everyone has to do it and we rotate to give people breaks which is nice. This will be my first one in this new group. Malia, Brayden and Sydney came over to our house today while I was at work to play with Amanda and the boys. They all had a good time I am sure. Nothing new tonight that I can tell. The usual. Hope to get in a nice walk after dinner, play some and read some books of course. Keegans three week track-out is coming to an end this weekend and he is off to school again for his first nine week track-in. He did six weeks the last time since it was the start of the school year. He's doing great and I can't wait to see what he learns next. I read a good article in the Newsweek which I just received about how kids in the earlier grades...

-- 5 September 2006 [Tuesday] My first day back at work. Bummer, especially after that mountain hike. It was so peaceful, I would love to live up there I believe. Nothing special at work that I can remember. Went home, we ate, went for a nice walk, played and went to bed. We are just trying to make it through this week to get back on track from our wonderful vacation. I'm already thinking of when/where we'll go next. I think Amanda and I agreed it will be to Williamsburg, Virginia to visit Mick and Carl. Another hotel with a pool, and maybe a little sightseeing. Just a long three day weekend. These seem to work best and let us have the most vacations with my limited amount of vacation time, instead of blowing a whole week every time. -- 4 September 2006 [Monday] Today was the day to head home. Just 12 miles north on the Blue Ridge Parkeway was a watefall that we found in my waterfall book and wanted to visit. It's called the Cascades waterfall. So after packing up the s...