Minivan fully loaded

THIS BLOG IS RETIRED!

blog@allsop.ws — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:19:36 GMT

This will be the final post to this engine. I managed to port most of the content from this blog to the new one, with the exception of comments. I plan to see if I can get comments as well, but I may not bother. I am going to like the new engine much better. You can check it out by simply going directly to our main page at http://www.allsop.ws . I have a link for this old blog and won't take it down for a bit.

Anyway, if you update your RSS for the new FeedBurner link you won't miss anything after this post. If you have always just read the blog directly from our web site, then you are all set as well. I'll follow up with more details on the new blogging engine after I catch a couple hours sleep.

Man I wish

blog@allsop.ws — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:05:56 GMT

Today Cailyn graduates from kindergarten! As such I am working from home so that I don't have to expend additional time (and fuel) running clear to the office for only a few hours.

Well, since I hadn't taken off at my normal time, when Tanner walked in and saw me still sitting here at the computer he cutely asked:

"Oh, hey Dad - did they cancel work today or something?"

I wish.

FeedBurner is now active

blog@allsop.ws — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:08:10 GMT

So I am moving closer and closer to a new blog engine. Running it locally on my system here right now. I like it much better. Once I get the customizations done, I will deploy it and this blog will cease to be updated. For those that read this blog directly from our website, nothing changes for you and you can ignore this post. For those that subscribed to the RSS feed, I decided to setup a feedburner feed so that I can simply update the source on the backend and you will not miss anything.

New RSS link to grab.

Now, one thing I noticed after setting this up is that the feedbuner feed seems to mangle the XML in such a way that the embedded images don't show up quite right. Maybe Brett or Warren will share some blog wisdom and have an idea why. I won't be surprised to learn that it is yet another flaw with the XML this current blog engine produces. Guess when I finish the port we will find out.

Anyway, stay tuned. This has been a fair amount of work and is something I want complete before our summer trip. I plan to update our blog with travel details while on the road!

Summer "Vacation" Plans

blog@allsop.ws — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:17:25 GMT

To me a vacation is something relaxing. Or it should be anyway. Yet every year that we have gone and done something even resembling a vacation, it has felt like anything but. I come home more exhausted than when I left.

This year will likely be no different. We're heading back to Utah. Now let me be clear - we enjoy it, and we love seeing all our family. But it's a lot of work and time spent traveling with kids. History has proven this to be a less than relaxing endeavor, hence, not a "vacation". I get tired just thinking about it.

It sure makes me appreciate all the efforts my parents made to "vacation" with us as kids. As a kid it is a blast. As a kid you are not out to relax; you are out to have fun. Maybe that is my problem. I am trying to relax instead of focusing on the fun. Hmm...

Well this year, I am going to try and have fun. It may not be relaxing, but I want to enjoy it more. Traditionally we have stuffed the kids into the truck and put ourselves through marathon driving sessions - not this year. This year we're taking it easy. Well easier. I hope.

Since we own a 5th wheel RV, we might as well put it to use. I may have to sell my wife's dog in order to pay for the fuel, but I am willing to make that sacrifice. I mean, can you put a price on the experiences and the memories shared with your kids?? Of course not.

We will therefore be hauling our crew down to spend a couple weeks in northern Utah. But we plan to take a different route this time. For the countless times we have made this trip in the past, we have always taken the most direct route. Example:

This year we won't even touch this route. At least for the trip down. Coming home it will most likely be exactly the same. But this year we're spicing it up a bit on the way down. First of all, we plan to drive no more than 6 hours a day on average. Then if we haven't reached our intended destination, we find the nearest WalMart and call it for the day. WalMart is awesome for RVers...they don't care if you stay while passing through and it's free! Yeah right. Like we don't end up spending more than a day's camping fees at each WalMart stop anyway.

Ok, so back to the trip. Our first stop - Vegas baby!! Ok, maybe not. But close. Reno Nevada:

Here we plan to spend a couple days (at least). We have a nice RV park lined up and it should be fun. I am pretty sure we can find something interesting to do with the kids here in this "mini Vegas". There is this 30,000 sq ft family fun center that I have seen advertised. Circus Circus is there as well I believe. Who knows what else!

From here we head to Utah. Since we have a family reunion smack dab in the center of Utah (Fillmore UT) - that will be our next stopping point.

This leg of the trip could be the hardest. There is literally nothing between Reno and Fillmore. A few small towns from the looks of it, but otherwise nothing. Not even a WalMart!! So this means we may have to pull a longer driving day if needed.

Once in Fillmore we plan to spend another couple days camping with family. It has been several years since we last made it to a family reunion. This will be a good time to see those we haven't seen in ages. Should be fun.

Then from Fillmore we will head north to the Salt Lake City area.

We plan to stay here for roughly two full weeks before heading for home. Our agenda for these two weeks hasn't been fully planned yet, and will really depend on what family is available etc. Regardless, we plan to take the kids and do a few fun things. Lagoon for example is high on the list. I expect we will have more planned out as we get closer to traveling.

Overall it should be an adventure. We will return home, and like most trips, I will feel like I need a vacation from the vacation. The thought of returning to work will be horrible. But it will be good to see everyone and get away for a bit. Plus everyone will finally get to see (in person) our new baby girl!

Though I warn my Aunt Edna to wear some form of plastic protection if she plans to hold her. :)

Why I go to work...

blog@allsop.ws — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:56:22 GMT

As I was leaving this morning, I gave each kid a hug and told them goodbye. I then went to the garage to retrieve a drink from the fridge (for the commute) and I caught the following dialog back in the house:

Tanner: "Man, I wish Daddy didn't have to go to work."

Cailyn: "But then we would be poor and have no money! Tanner, we wouldn't be able to go back to Utah and visit our cousins!"

Tanner: "Oh yeah!"

They are both cute.

Manbabies

blog@allsop.ws — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:03:11 GMT

Stumbled across this site and found it pretty funny. I have to say, some of these are really well done.

I liked this one...heck, I liked most of them.

Baby laxative proof!

blog@allsop.ws — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:00:49 GMT

Today Ciera turned 10 weeks old. I decided to shoot another video update and post it for all to see. Besides seeing how cute she continues to be, I also managed to capture proof that I am in fact a baby laxative!

While this video was compiling I decided to catch up on some blog reading. What a funny coincidence my Aunt Edna posted about how babies poop on those they love....

That is such a funny poem. I wonder if there is any relation to the baby in the poem and the one in this video?? :)

Possible blog changes

blog@allsop.ws — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:29:51 GMT

For the thousands, er ok, for the 3-4 readers that care - I may be changing blogging solutions here soon. Haven't decided for sure yet, but I am not thrilled with this current module.

This site is hosted via .NET and I like it for the most part. The content management system (CMS) I am using is DotNetNuke (DNN), and it included this blogging engine you are enjoying right now. DNN is pretty nice and there are tons of plug-in modules available for practically everything you can imagine, but this is currently the only blogging option for it. It is under active development, but compared to the other .NET solutions such as dasBlog, BlogEngine.Net, and SubText, this little blogging module is simply way behind the times.

Now there are many good upgrades coming, but do I want to wait? Since this is open source, and everyone simply gives of their time when they can, it could be months before I see the features I want. Simple things such as:

Better comment management and notifications

RSS feed for comments would rule! Other solutions have it, but this one doesn't. Or heck, it might and I just haven't figured it out yet.
Better email notifications of comments would also be nice. This exists, but the implementation is way inferior to dasBlog (for example).

Support for multiple contributors without jumping through hacky hoops

I'd like Jody and I to share this same blog, and if I want one of my very own I can simply make one. This one was supposed to be shared.

Better archive management. To get the navigation setup I have now required a bunch of lame hacking. It is a pain to otherwise get at old content.

And that is just a few of things I'm annoyed about. I didn't even go into Tagging or Categories!

So I am torn on what to do at this point. As it is I have invested a great deal of time in getting this solution going, so anything new will essentially reboot me. Plus it won't integrate well with this CMS platform if I change.

Content wise I won't lose much (if anything). I may lose some of the fancy picture rendering I get inside posts - I'll live.

Stay tuned and don't change anything for now. I'll keep investigating and decide at some point.

Time for sleep....

The morning run

blog@allsop.ws — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:10:50 GMT

You thought I was going to write something about my morning exercise routine didn't you? Yeah, right. These days I only run if I have to chase a kid for some reason. Which I admit is sad and I should do more, but that is not the topic of this post.

Every morning now I drop Milee off at school before heading to catch my bus. She arrives at school about an hour earlier than everyone else because she has signed up for a few different extra curricular activities. We have been doing this for a few months now, and in general it was only Monday,Wednesday, and Friday. Now she has something going every day of the week.

Anyway, each morning when I drop her off, she gives me a hug and jumps out of the car. She walks a few feet away, turns, gives me the "I love you" sign, and then begins walking to the building. I slowly begin to pull away, but as I do I keep peeking back at her. As she approaches the open gate she looks around (I think to see if anyone else is watching her), and then off she goes on a dead run.

I have to get this on camera. Here is my beautiful 11 year old, with a backpack that is probably half her weight just running like mad. She isn't late for anything; not even close. I haven't tried asking her why she runs because I fear she will stop doing it. I find it so dang cute.

I speculate she does it because there is nobody around to scold her for running. During normal school hours it is strictly forbidden except on the play ground. Could also be she is just excited to get to her class, not sure.

Regardless, I love it. And I only have two more weeks to enjoy seeing it.

Geek vs Washing machine

blog@allsop.ws — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:06:16 GMT

As you know, we recently suffered a malfunction at the Allsop laundromat. The machine was in the middle of a wash cycle, went to drain/spin, and died. But it didn't die in the literal sense. You see, these new machines (like practically everything in our lives) are all computerized now. So when it encountered a malfunction, it displayed and error code and brought the machine to a halt. Jody immediately looked up the error code in the operating manual, and it wasn't very helpful. Claimed that the machine failed to drain properly. Duh! Then it suggested we check the drain hoses. Ok, nothing obviously obstructing. Nothing kinked. Guess we could try and snake it out or something....no snake handy though.

Since we have an extended warranty, we call Sears. They tell us it will be a week before a tech can come and diagnose the problem. Great. Seven people in this household and a week downtime. What else can we do?

We concede defeat, albeit with much animosity towards Sears and Kenmore, and we begin making plans to last the week without the washer. The main hurdle being underwear for the kids. Tanner was already on his last pair. Ok, no problem, he needs more anyway. Rather than a painful (immediate) run to the laundromat, we bought him some more. This should hold us off until Wednesday (today), then the other kids will begin to run out of things to wear.

So as we near the impending day of actually needing to go to a laundromat, we find ourselves further frustrated and even contemplating a new washing machine. The thought of hauling everything to a laundromat, especially considering how fussy Ciera has been - let's just say Jody wasn't keen on it. And I sure don't blame her. I don't do the laundry. Jody for some crazy reason claims to enjoy doing it. So I feel it is important that she has the equipment she needs to get the job done without frustration. Now that we have a brand new Lowe's here in Monroe (literally a mile from our house), the temptation to take the easy, yet more costly way out, was building. Especially after I began researching different washing machine options on the Internet and reading about the numerous issues people have had with the machine we currently own.

Then this morning I decided to Google the error code and washing machine model to see if I could learn more. I wanted to ascertain the likelihood that we would be dealing with a failed part or not. If so we would be looking at even more downtime while they ordered up the parts. And if this was the case, then I was probably going to just break down and buy something to get Jody up and running. Let them repair this piece of crap and we would then sell it or something.

Man I wish I had done this search when it had first died!! There was a ton of hits with details on the error and possible causes and resolutions. Considering how computerized these things are, it totally should have dawned on me that loads of info would be at my fingertips if I but looked. Quickly I learned that the primary cause was something jamming up the drain pump. It was possible the pump had failed, but most often it was just jammed. I called Jody up and told her that, tonight, this geek would attempt a washer repair.

As planned, I arrive home and immediately set to work. Just three small screws and the front kick plate on the washer was off. Before me, the drain pump. Following the directions I had read, I twist the drain cap, and pull it off.

Oops. Ah crap! I should have tried to drain as much of the remaining water out of the washer first! Man did I get soaked. As did everything else. I seem to recall reading a warning about releasing lots of water....sigh.

Anyway, after dealing with the flood, I begin to inspect the interior chamber of the pump. Sure enough I pull out a small (very small) mangled wash cloth (one used to bath Ciera) that had managed to get sucked down the drain somehow. Yep, the pump was jammed. After removing the cloth, and inspecting the pump further for more blockage, I replaced the cap and fired up the washer. Works like a champ now. Error code gone. Machine happy. Wife happy.

I then retired to the shower to rid himself of the nasty mildewy smell acquired from my near drowning. It was worth it.

EDIT:
Ok, note to future geeks that may attempt this in your own home. There is a thing called a rubber gasket that is part of the drain cap. It can easily be separated from said drain cap during a frenzied attempt to avoid drowning (as I did). Make sure you have this gasket and cap on tight before washing cloths!! I just saved you an hour or more of work cleaning up several inches of water in your laundry room. You're welcome.