House Pictures!!!!!

So I finally have posted more pictures...sorry it has taken so long. I have two groups, but the first is a combo of several visits so there are some duplicates that show different stages. Enjoy.

Roof and more framing

Painted Exterior & Seattle Sunset

Sycho weather

During the last two months we have been hit by some insane weather. Freezing temperatures (low of 18 in late Oct), record rainfall (15in. in November), 8in. of snow after Thanksgiving (60 bus accidents on that day), and a wind and rain storm that reached over 100mph gusts in some areas last week. We were without power at our apartment from last Thursday evening until Sunday morning (12/17/06). We still do not have cable or Internet access and there are still over 100,000 people in Washington without power and trees are down everywhere. There was a madrona in the back yard of our new house that came down and BARELY missed the house. The good news? We now have a better view of Lake Sammamish from our new house! :) Several trees went down that are in our line of sight to the lake. WooHoo!

Speaking of the house, I am way far behind on getting pictures posted. I will hopefully be able to do that over Christmas break. Exterior painting is mostly done. Plumbing is mostly done, HVAC is kind of done however they need to fix some things and we have our own HVAC guy (Aarden Air) comming out to add return air ducting and will be adding A/C sometime after we are in the house (before the heat of summer :) ). Rough Electrical is done and gas piping is going in today. One of our French doors was ripped off its hinges in the storm, so that will have to be replaced. All in all, things are going well. Current estimate for getting into the house is mid February.

More to come

Oh, btw...did I mention I love the weather up here in Seattle? :) And that's not sarcasm either!!

Its Cold and Wet up here...In case you hadn't noticed

Yea...just a bit. Snow. Ice. Rain. And lots of it. It was 18 deg on Tuesday night. Can I just say I love my Jeep? We have not been hindered by the weather at all...except for the side effect of having to navigate around hundreds of cars abandoned on the sides of the roads and blocking half the lanes going up hill. And mind you we live on a plateau right now...so we have a steep hill. When we got home at 8pm on Monday night we were only 1 of 2 or 3 cars that were able to make it up the additional hill to our apartment complex. Needless to say the dogs had fun....they LOVE the snow. :)

And this just in from the Seattle PI:

The National Weather Service has confirmed that November is officially the rainiest month in the Seattle area in at least 115 years. The weather service officially started collecting records in 1891. As of midnight, the amount of precipitation collected at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was 15.59 inches, according to the agency.

That amount shatters the December 1933 record of 15.33 inches, which was collected at the Federal Building in Seattle.

Good times!! :)

Quick Update...

I know it has been a while, but we have been busy with the house. I am sitting at the Crossroads in Carmel, CA at the Carmel Valley Coffee Roasting Co leeching off of the free wifi. Through this you could gather that I am in Monterey, CA for Thanksgiving. We left on Tuesday morning at about 10am in the Z4 and 16 hours later (2am) we pulling into Monterey. We were pelted with rain through south Washington and most of Oregon. I5 south was not the road of choice, but due to the desire to make it to Monterey quickly, it was the best route. The coast is always the most fun, it just takes longer.

Quick update on the house...and I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance...
Roof is finally on, rough plumbing is in, we met with the electrician on friday and he starts this next Monday, the fireplace is installed and the heating system was in the process of being installed when we were there on Friday. We get to make an appointment with the cabinet guy when we get back and I have to get speaker cable and dig up my HDMI cable for the electrician.

Side note...there is a humming bird fluttering 2 feet from my foot... It is sunny and cool down here in Monterey at the moment...great weather to have the top down. Now the only problem with driving the Z4 down is the weather...we are actually getting a little worried because I just found out that there is forecast for snow and freezing temperatures in Oregon and Washington...so I think we will have to leave asap on sunday to head back north. I do not yet know what route we will take. I would like to take I5 because it is the quickest, however we may have to take the coast due to possible snowy conditions in the passes in Oregon. The good news about all this is that there is snow forecasted for where we live next week! :) We just have to get home before it dumps!!!

Anyways..Happy Thanksgiving and I will post more later...

Priceless

600 Miles and two tanks of gas: $55

A room with a view on the Oregon bank of the Columbia River: $100

The wind through your hair at 122 MPH on wide open Yakima Valley back roads: Priceless

One track mind

I know that I have been pretty much posting only about the house lately. I know that I am kind of in a rut. But hey...what can I say. I don't have a ton of other stuff going on right now. Just work and the house.

I am however very glad fall has arrived...I thought it would never come. The dogs are liking it too, they have more energy and run more at the dog park. A few weeks ago Zanni came down with an upper respiratory infection. It was pretty bad...hacking and coughing and such all the time. Of course Bailey got it too, so they were quarantined from the dog park for a while and I had to find alternate places to take them for walks. I did pretty well though and we got out quite a few times. They are better now after two weeks worth of anti-biotic.

Not much to mention on the house. They were suppose to put the trusses on last week (they are on the lot), but when the crane guy came and looked at the incline he said "I don't think so". Therefore the builder had to do some leveling which he was going to do, but hadn't gotten to it yet. The crane is suppose to be back tomorrow and they framers are going to take advantage of the situation and build the fireplace flue on the ground and have the crane lift it into place when it comes. Sounds like a good idea to me. Now my concern is if the crane guy wouldn't work with the slope that was there, how is the builder going to fix it so that we can even get up our driveway? We'll see.

Another funny thing about this whole process.... We are putting natural lodge pole timbers in the living room as the supports for the gluelamb beam that will be natural and span the kitchen/dining area and mark the transition to the living room. The builder said a few weeks ago that he didn't know where to get them, so I took that on. I have contacted and ordered 10' poles from a guy we found off of Hwy 2 in Sulton,wa (Sky Valley Wood Works). We have already purchased lodge pole night stands from him to go with our lodge pole bed. It is just weird that I am on task to get the support poles for the beam that is holding up our top floor.

Anyway, I don't have any more pictures at the moment. I will take more when more stuff happens and I will post the Duval sunrise pics soon.

Soaked House / Top Floor

Fall has arrived! Its cooler, the colors are starting to change and rain has come! Its awesome!

They are now working on the top floor, plus the trusses & roof should be going on next week sometime. The builder is trying to get it buttoned up before it rains too much more.

20060921_HouseFraming

Sep 21, 2006 - 20 Photos

I took a few morning fog pics a few weeks ago and I will post them soon.

Pictures Galore - House and boating trip

So i went crazy this time and uploaded all of the pics I took (instead of editing them and picking a few) to Google Web albums. Its in beta, but it seems to be functioning well.

Here we go... [click on the pics to go to the album]

House: Framing for garage - Floor 0

New House - Floor 0

Sep 2, 2006 - 11 Photos

Boating trip on Lake Washington with the Volts

Lake Washington Boating

Sep 3, 2006 - 25 Photos

House: Framing for main floor - Floor 1

New House - Floor 1

Sep 7, 2006 - 15 Photos

YeeeHaaa!

All is well! There is progress on the house! We climbed a ladder and walked around in our living room. Its finally coming together. I have pictures and will post them tonight hopefully. The garage (Floor 0) is fully enclosed (with framing) and the flooring and frames for Floor 1 are in place. We even looked out the window, (that will be changed to French doors {framers got confused} our builder assured us) that will lead out to our front deck off of the dining room... The view will be awesome!

Also, our new Whole Foods opened last Wednesday. It is 5 minutes from our new house and it ROCKS. We are stoked. It is 1 minute from the dog park, so going there will be very convenient and they have lots of cool stuff at this new one. Juice bar, Gelloto bar, various other food bars, Japanese bar.... It is AWESOME. Its big and laid out very well.

Anyway, more to come...Picture soon

Mountain Twisties Tour

This last Sunday we went on our first event with the Puget Sound BMW Car Club. This event was called the Mountain Twisties Tour.

A titbit from the description: "...clear skies should reveal Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens for at least a short while. That is, if you can take your eyes off the road. You see, this Tour is not about the scenery, but instead is all about the roads. Without question, the twistiest, longest, least crowded roads in the State, featuring endless second and third gear corners."

Needless to say it was a blast. We met new friends, drove 431 miles, and flew through some mighty tight corners. :) It was a beautifull day for a drive...cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. Come monday morning, my arms were rather sore. :) I have never had so much fun on the road before! :) Bellow are some pics of the event. There were about 28 cars in all and 6 Z4s.

 

Mt. St. Hellens

 
 
 
    

Frames!

 
 
  

Foundation anyone?

So I was going to post a few pictures I took last week of the forms. But then I thought....why? When I can post pictures of the foundation itself! :)


 
 
 
  

Why?

Why can't we just all get along?


Why is violence and anger the first response?


Why is PEACE such a foreign concept?


Why do so many people have to suffer and die?


Why are our efforts and time and money spent on war and vengeance and destruction instead of on education and people and creation?


Why is there so much hate in this world?

Stupid Unions...

So they were supose to pour more of the foundation yesteray...
except there was a kink [wslc.org] in the process.

I have a few more pics...I will post them soon

Sunset a few weeks ago

This is a pic of a sunset from the top portion of our apartment complex a few weeks after we moved in. The apartment complex is on a hill that faces east and the cascades...but the top crests the hill we are on...and you can see past Lake Sammamish, past Bellevue, past Lake Washington and into the skyscrapers of downtown Seattle. This was looking that direction with some dynamic clouds and a beautiful sunset! :) Enjoy.

  

Forms Appear!

Some Forms have appeared on the lot this last Saturday. The foundation is suppose to be poured this week (yea I said that before). So we'll see

 

Our house is the forms to the left, the right house that is framed is the house next to ours

 

Looking at the lower part of the forms for the foundation

 

Looking at the foundation (to be built up) for the right garage.

 

Looking at the forms for the left garage...the front door entrance is off to the left out of the picture.

 

So you think you can ride the tour?

Yea. Um no. The pro riders sure make it look easy. Every year before the tour blazes through France, a ride is organized that sets anyone up for it against one (just one) stage in that year's Tour, called L'Etape du Tour [letapedutour.com]. This year? Stage 15. L'Alpe d'Huez.

Ouch.

7500 insane people rode it this year. 1500 didn't finish.

But don't take my word for it. Read about someone that rode it....and cry.

The Tour de France Almost Killed Me [Slate.com]

House Updates

Not much to mention. There hasn't been a bunch done lately. The builder called us mid week to let us know they are about to lay the foundation. So hopefully that will happen soon. The lot has been excavated and is ready for the foundation to be layed :)

More pics....

The framing on the left is the house next to ours...the framing in front is the house accross the street from ours...This pic was taken from the lot looking down.

 

The Jeep is pointing at our lot.

 

The framing on the right is the house next to ours.

  

Tour de France: Stage 11

Floyd Landis is now in the Yellow jersey. Hincapie has fallen way back.

This tour has been very interesting, with the Yellow jersey bouncing around to all sorts of riders. I think it is good that one rider is not dominating the race. Its an open field and anything can happen.

In case you missed it. Landis announced that he has been having hip problems since a crash in training back in 2003 and is scheduled to have surgery after the tour.

I REALLY Love Seattle (part 2)

We went down to San Diego this last weekend for a wedding. It was a long time coming, even if it was short notice on the date side. It went well and was fun. We had a blast being able to talk to a lot of people we hadn't seen in a long time. Lots of friends came in from the various places we have split to and it was great to talk to friends and professors from PLNU.

Now the downsides....

It was HOT...as in 81 Deg at 7am. (disclaimer: Point Loma was nice and cool (all relative of course)! Always has been...That's the only reason I was able to stand San Diego for 5 years...)

And then there is the unexpected. Even though San Diego is close to LA, it has been historicity a great town. There are lots of good restaurants and fun things to do. Good movie theaters. The Zoo and Wild Animal Park are a blast. Balboa Park is awesome and The Old Globe is there that offers very good theatrical productions. Seaworld is fun and the beaches and piers are abundant. That all still holds true, except for one thing.
The mentality has changed. I have never been yelled at, flipped off, cut off, run down, glared at, and had just general animosity directed at me more in a 3 day period in my life. There are now AT LEAST 20 minutes of commercials and trailers at the beginning of movies. Gas is expensive, homes are expensive, movies are expensive. But there is good Mexican food at least! My question is this... WHY? I will never, ever live in Southern California again in my life. We will visit again and go down to see friends, but that is all. Oh, and I almost forgot...don't use your turn signals in San Diego. Instead of letting people know you want over so that they will let you in, a turn signal seems to be a notification to other drivers to speed up and make sure you don't get in front of THEM.

Now I understand that no place is perfect and all cities have their downsides, but to me, Seattle is a great area.

Did I mention I love Seattle?

I Love Seattle....

Well, I guess I should say I love the Pacific Northwest. Oregon to Whistler. The trees, the ocean, the rivers, the mountains, the snow, the rain. The Colors. And of course the random changes in weather.

The last two weeks have royally sucked. HOT. Did I mention it was HOT? 90s..high 80s. Ich. (of all times to sell the house WITH the A/C!)

And then WHAM.

At 4am on the 4th, we (all 4 of us...Beagles included) sat straight up in bed awakened by the loudedest and most grippingly strong rolling clap of thunder I have heard in years. It was awesome. It even rained. All on the 4th of July! :) Yesterday was the first cool day we have had in two weeks. The ground was wet when we woke up and there were clouds in the sky. The bike ride I went on in the morning was awesome. It got warmer in the afternoon and cleared up some, but not too much. The clouds were still hanging around come fireworks time. I don't know what it was like at the major fireworks locations because we went to a friend's house and watched their cul-du-sac's local display. But this is what I am used to. I grew up in Monterey, CA where 60% of the time the fireworks were half in the clouds. :) It was a good forth.

Real. Actual. Progress! With proof!

Its actually for real! We really are building a house. :) The lot is finally starting to be cleared. Bellow are some before pics and some pics I took today.

Original Shot - Looking up the lane. Our house is the second lot on the right

 

Sunset from Lake Sammamish that night.

 

Today: Looking up the lane. The first lot with the foundation is the other house the builder is working on.

 

Today: Grading the lot.

 

Today: Looking down from the lot.

 
 

Cool Tour Tracker

I ran into this cool gps/google integrated tour tracker this morning. Its pretty cool...
Google Maps Tour de France Tracker

Tour de France 2006 - Stage 1 - George Hincapie in Yellow!

The 2006 Tour has started, amongst controversy and major hopefuls being pulled from the race. The prolog went well, with two US riders in the top 3 after Thor Hushovd (Norway) took the first stage. I am excited now tho, because the chance that George Hincapie could take the tour is much higher now with Ullrich and Basso out. He is definitely due, sitting behind Lance for the past 7 years. I just don't know if he has it in him. We'll see. Hincapie is starting strong in the 2006 Tour. Now the question is, is it too strong? Is he pushing to hard too soon? Only time will tell. See the specifics here: Tour de France 2006 - Stage 1

On another note..

Pun intended.

I duno if any of you have ever heard of Relevant Magazine, but they are a great Christian magazine for those interested Emergent style of worship and forward thinking. They also have a relatively new section called Relevant TV where they focus on all kinds of Christian and Secular up-and-coming music. Through this and other sources I have been able to keep up with some of the new great Christian artists... everything from country to hard rock.
One such artist is Anberlin. I had not heard of them before, but they have a new album out that Rocks...literally. So check them out if you like good Christian Rock.
Other good artists to check out are: Falling Up, By the Tree, Tree63, Casting Crowns, Skillet, Kutless, ReliantK, Lifehouse, Sanctus Real, Switchfoot, David Crowder Band, Delirious, FlyLeaf, MercyMe, Jars of Clay, Newsboys, Pillar, SONICFlood, Thousand Foot Krutch.

Also of note...Petra is no more. They have retired. Its a sad day, they will be missed.

Meeting with the builder...

We had a pre-construction meeting with our builder on Wednesday. It went very well. We walked the lot and talked about what trees will go, what will stay and he got input from us about the slope of the driveway as well and how high we wanted the house... The lot is on a slop, so he could cut down and put the house lower or build up the dirt around and place the house higher...we opted for the latter because it will give us a better view. One of the really cool things is that we will have input along the way for things like grading and rockeries (on the back side for retaining wall...all depending on how the lot gets finally graded). We have a protected growth area in front of the house, which means we get to (have to) keep a few trees in the front of the lot, which is fine by us.
Also, one of the options we had, that we gladly chose, was to have an open wood beam on the main level (9ft ceiling) that allows the kitchen/dining/living area to be fully open. This beam will be natural wood and we will have timber (real trees) as the two posts in the kitchen for support. The original plan was to have a Glulamb Beam. While we were at the lot on Wednesday, we saw a few large, straight trees that had been felled on the lot next to ours that the builder is working on as well. So I asked...

So about the open beam...would it be possible to take one of those (*pointing to the logs lying by us*), and mill it to be our open beam?

His response was this...

You know, I was just starting to think about that too, so I'll talk to my mill guy and let you know.

SWEET
:) Our builder is awesome.

New schedule (rough dates):
June 12th - clearing/grading starts
July 1st - Framing starts
December 1st - Completion

It will probably slide some, but I just hope we can get in by Christmas...

More to come as it unfolds.

Progress!

Yea, so during the final junk/odds-n-ends moving process on Saturday, we got a call from our cool realtor Andy with word that he has been in contact with our builder. Finally, permits are completed and everything is good to go. The site is scheduled to be cleared late this week or early next week and we have a pre-construction meeting planned for Wednesday afternoon. The meeting is to walk the lot to see what trees can be saved and to get an idea of what the final grade will be like, as well as to confirm all the requests/changes/additions/selections we have made over the past few months.

It is perfect timing, because now we can focus solely on the house and we are only 10 minutes away from it! :) God is good. We had an opportunity to move a while back and didn't end up proceeding down that path because it just didn't feel right. Everything about this move has been awesome and has fallen together easily and efficiently. That is one of the many reasons we know we are making the right decision.

All out

The sale of our house has closed, money deposited (YEHA!), and we are out...never again to be in our old house.

The apartment is packed...there are boxes everywhere. It is a nice area tho and the dogs seem to like it and are getting used to the noises. The only thing that sucks? No Air Conditioning...I really like my A/C. :)

Our place backs up to a rock wall and has grass off of the patio. Thus I have on order (delayed...suck) two sets of metal pet pens that I am going to link together and put up around the grass and patio so that we can let the dogs out without putting them on leashes every time. So that will be nice. We still have to clean out the garage so that we can fit the Z4 in it. Lots to do, but we are tired so it may take a bit to get organized. I have one thing to admit... as much as I hate moving and the fatigue that goes with it, I have been feeling more alert because of all the activity and exercise (moving boxes and such)... so I just need to keep that up.

Chaos Reigns!

We are moving. Need I say more?

I hate moving...


*sigh*

Movers come on Thursday. We are doing our best to get fully packed and furniture dis-assembled. 1/2 goes to storage, 1/2 to our apartment...(our 925 sqft 1bd/bath + den apartment). Its nice tho. :) I just hate this part of moving.

More later...if we survive.

New sound experience...

I have been running sound for my church almost solidly for the past 3 years. We have gone from school gym, to school gym, to finally our own location. It has been a fun experience and I have learned a lot. I have been humbled by how much the worship team, pastors, and congregation have consistently conveyed how much they appreciate having me around and how much they enjoy the quality of the music and the mix that I am able to produce. Let me put it this way... if there is a special service, or a Holiday service coming, I can pretty much assume that I have been scheduled to run sound. We have been able to train a fair number of people and have gotten a lot of nice, new equipment over the years. There are now several ppl that are doing a decent job and have contributed a lot to the system and setup. I now feel that I can release the reigns and let them proceed without me. Don't get me wrong, I love the church and the people there. We have developed a lot of awesome friendships and media/tech team is great to work with. I just feel like my skills could be used better somewhere that really needs the help to get things going.

That place is Seattle Family Church. They are just getting started and they really have a good thing going. Its small, but fun and very much centered on doing what they can to reach as many people for Christ as possible. The people getting it running are a splinter group that have come from a few different churches in the area that want to head is a slightly difference direction and go back to the basics of worship and ministry. That all being said, they are doing it right coming from a tech side. A lot of startups scavenge for equipment and limp along with crappy quality stuff for a few years and build as they go. Not so for SFC, they have gotten some good deals and have some contacts within the av community and so have been able to get good prices on rentals and great prices on good equipment. One such piece of equipment is this: The Mackie TT24. It is by far the best mixer I have ever worked with. I went to rehearsal last Saturday, jumped on the board and ended up running sound for that night's service. Now, mind you I have only
work with a digital board once before. The thing is a dream to use. It is amazingly powerful and almost infinitely configurable. I would recommend it to anyone. It has 24 analog channels and 24 digital inputs. It has almost everything and it sounds awesome.

All in all, I have found a place where I fit in and can lend my expertise to help them leap forward and get a good thing going.

Curious Tidbits from my family's blogs...

Here are a few cool things I thought I would spread from my cousin's blogs:

The need for Ethanol as an alternative fuel

Life Lessons on "The Freedom of limitations"

New house on East Lake Sammamish

I know I am on a posting rampage, but here is a few more tidbits.

Our new house is on the East side of Lake Sammamish, Wa about 5 minutes south of Redmond, WA. It is not in a development, it is a small builder building on a few lots he owns in the area. It is up a hill in the trees with a partial view of Lake Sammamish west through the trees and of cougar mountain south. We don't know the full extent of the views because it hasn't been built yet. It is smallish (1580 sqft), which we like, and it is 3 stories (including garage). The lot was suppose to be cleared late march/early April, but that hasn't happened yet. We are suppose to close August 30th, but that won't happen. You may be asking..."What the...". But we don't care. Its pretty much our dream house. We have massive control over almost everything...fireplace, rock on front, floors, slate, countertops, cabinets, molding, colors, windows, skylights, open wood beam in kitchen/dining/living greatroom with log timber posts, etc... So if it takes a while and we are crammed into an apartment for a bit...we don't mind so much.
Here are some specifics:

Listing

Floorplan
(kinda, its a little different from this: the kitchen/dining/living room on the main floor is all open with an island where the furnace/water heater/fridge is on the plans. The deck will be off back instead of the side and the half wall next to the powder room is not there. Also on the upper floor, there is a skylight in the master and master bath.

Weekend trip to Orcas Island

This last weekend, when our house went on the market, we packed up the backpacks and the dogs and headed on the ferry to Orcas Island. Our original plan was to go backpacking up trail 1002 (Taylor River/Snoqualmie Lake Trail) to Snoqualmie Lakes. It probably would have been a fun trip but the conditions were iffy and there is still snow around which would have been fine...But we were exhausted from the last 2 weeks of getting our house ready to sell. So we went to Orcas. :)

I had forgotten what it was like to camp in a state park. I grew up camping at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park with my dad. I always loved it and still love to camp. But I think my preferences for camping have changed a bit. I like backpacking....it's quieter, more open, less people, and no cars. So our first night in Moran State Park was less then exciting. On top of that, I guess fishing season just started (don't really keep up with that), so it was quite busy... and loud... and there were other dogs (some not so friendly). Therefore we were unable to let Bailey and Zanni off leash...which was a pain. Don't get me wrong, the area was beautiful and if you like car camping its a great place to go. But I don't think we really like car camping anymore.
Needless to say, we did some searching and found Obstruction Pass Park. Its not much of a hike (.5 mi) and its NOT in Garmin's MapSource Topo mapset, but it was awesome. The short hike goes down from the parking lot, along the sound to a beach. There are 9 decent size and private camp sites with the sound of lapping water 50 feet away. Its an awesome little park and we were able to let the dogs off leash because there were not many people there. Another cool thing about it is that is it one of many waterfront camp sites on the Cascade Marine Trail. This is something we have been wanting to experience sometime soon. After we get settled in our new place, we are going to get new touring kayaks and spend a week or so kayaking around the San Juan Islands, stopping at the campsites along the CMT. It was a blast to experience one of the sites on the CMT. It did rain all that night and into the morning, but us and the dogs had a blast. I will post some pictures when I get a moment to pull them off my camera.

WOW

So...wow. Our house went on the market last Friday. We got back from our backpacking trip late Sunday evening and met with our realtors on Monday afternoon. Here is the status:

10 + offers

We have sold the house and are in mutual acceptance with inspection complete.

We got a fair amount over asking price.

We are amazed.

God is good.

Now we have to be out by June 3rd, and so begins the mad rush to find an apartment for however long it takes our new house to be built (its a little behind schedule).

Our House is now on the market

So I know I haven't posted in a while..but we have been up to a lot. We bought a house down in Sammamish, WA. It is just south of Redmond and is on the East side of Lake Sammamish. I can't show you much yet due to the fact that it hasn't been built. Construction is a little behind (like it hasn't started), but the original completion estimate was August 30th (yea right). It will slide, but that's ok. We are planning on getting an apartment for a bit after our house sells. So we are being flexible. It is an awesome house, its a small builder and its not a development. This means we have control over almost everything! And it has a partial view and beach rights! :) I will post more later, but the main reason for this posting is to get a link to our current house out on the web for you all to see. Here it is:



(not active anymore)


We have spent the last several weeks working on the house and its looking great and ready to go finally. Anyway, I have to get going because we are heading out for the weekend to go backpacking/camping.

Last Whistler trip of the winter (most likely)

We went up to Whistler again a few weeks ago with some friends and their 14 month old boy Ian. It was a blast hanging out with them and flying down the slopes (the snow was AWESOME). Here is one of several pics I hope to get up soon.
BTW- I will post more about the house as soon as I know more. We hope to get by the property and snap some pictures soon.

Whistler trip # 2 of ? for 2006

We have gone to Whistler a ton of times. Here is one of many, many pictures...that I of course have not done anything with. This is from 7th Heaven on Blackcomb looking at Whistler.

Yea, its been way too long

It has been a while since I have posted. Obviously. I will hopefully be keeping up a little more here in the future. The reason? We bought a new house that has not been built yet. Construction is suppose to begin in a week or so and I will be taking pictures periodically and posting them here with status. It is located on the East side of Lake Sammamish, south of Redmond and east of Bellevue, WA. It is going to be awesome! :) We can't wait. This is roughly what the house will look like, with some changes (skylights, Kitchen/Dining/Living is a great-room, deck off back...and a few others). Sammamish House Floorplan

Biking season is starting to wind back up. I road a little over a week ago for the first time this year. It was a lot of fun, but I am out of shape...duh. My friends and I are planning on riding Flying Wheels again this summer, so we will be riding more soon to get ready for that. There is talk about riding the RSVP which is a two day ride from Seattle to Vancouver, BC, Canada in early August. I don't know yet if that will happen or not.

More later...

Uptime for Win2k, 2k3, XP, & NT

So I have been using Unix and Linux a lot more lately because of my job. This has been good because I had gotten a little rusty and I enjoy the Linux environment. Recently I was trying to determine the uptime of one of our windows servers without having to search the Event logs for the last time the machine rebooted. Unfortunately windows currently does not have a command like "uptime" in *nix. However, I found something that is almost as good. Drop to a command prompt and type:

> net statistics server

It will output something like:

*****
Server Statistics for \\[your machine name]
Statistics since 1/9/2006 11:09 AM
...
*****

Not quite as pretty, but hey it works... :)