I really need to update more than once a month. May began hectic and ended just right. So here's the month in a nutshell.
The beginning of May saw me in Colorado Springs for a conference on cross domain solutions. If anyone is interested, a cross domain solution is a device that can sit between networks of different classifications. Say if you want to connect to a secret or top secret network, the connection would require a cross domain solution in the middle to act as a guard.
Following the conference, I flew from Colorado to Indiana where I was a groomsman in Rachelle's wedding. Rachelle has been a wonderful friend since my freshman year at Biola. She was in my wedding 4 years ago and it is an honor to be in hers now. It was a wonderful wedding, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the sanctuary when her groom sang her a song that he composed himself. They then drove away in a replica 1964 Shelby Cobra that he also built himself. Now that they're back, the Cobra is up for sale if anyone is interested.
Once back home, and with school finished, it is time to settle in our house and embark on the next project. BTW - I got an A and an A- in my two classes if anyone is interested. We bought some new bedroom furniture and finished putting together our master bedroom. With new furniture and everything put away, it looks like home again. One of these days I really will post some pictures for everyone. With one room down and several more to go, I also started thinking about our next project...landscaping the yard, so I killed what grass was growing in our front yard. Rainbird has a cool sprinkler design service, so I sent them a diagram of our yard so they could design a sprinkler system for us.
The last week of May saw me in Colorado Springs again. This time for a training course on the DITSCAP process. In case anyone is interested, the DITSCAP is the process we use when certifying and accrediting computer systems for use. While in Colorado Springs, I visited Keri and Calvin and we had dinner one night and played cards.
I got back from Colorado just in time for Memorial day weekend. To some Memorial day is a time for BBQs, for me, it was time to embark on our landscaping project. But first a little detour. Saturday was spent searching for the right dog for our house. Sunday, My dad came over and we rented a sod cutter and started ripping out the old grass that I had previously killed. That pretty much took all day, and so on Monday with all the old grass gone, we started digging trenches (we did rent a trencher so this part wasn't so bad) and laying new sprinkler pipe. We're probably about half done with the sprinkler pipe, so tomorrow we need to finish. The good thing is that all the trenches are already dug, we just have to lay pipe, install the valves, timer and get everything working. Once the sprinklers are in, we can plant the new grass in our yard.
On Wednesday (May 31), I stayed home from work and we visited the Irvine Animal shelter to bring home "Max" a puppy that we saw on Saturday. On Saturday he was on hold for someone else, but they never came to pick him up, so we grabbed him. He is a really cute yellow Lab/retriever mix around 9 months old. Max has tons of energy and will certainly keep is busy looking out for him. I owe everyone pictures of Max just like I owe everyone pictures of the house. Stay tuned...I really hope the next update is much less than a month away.
