Sunday, March 30, 2008

Busy Work Schedule

Someone at Church this morning asked me about my work schedule - where I've been, and where I'm going... So thus this post as a reply.

And as I responded this morning... when he commented that it seemed a bit 'busy'... I answered being busy is far better than the alternative. ;-)


1st Quarter of 2008 looked like this.


The next two quarters are also fairly busy - but I put in the 'big rocks' first - family vacations, going to Brent's Lacrosse, etc. Then 'backfilled' the work around those items.

More snow... it keeps following me...

Back in Orem for the weekend, and the weather on Saturday afternoon was great - warm, sunny, and fickle. By the evening it got very cold and started late at night to snow.

So this morning we woke up to this...



I guess 'ol Man Winter isn't quite yet done yet.

Poor little Daffodils, bending their heads to the snow. This morning they look a bit 'ashamed' to be out in the snow... but by this afternoon they'll proudly show their colors against the snow background!






Alysha likes when I'm out of town - just so she can park her car in the garage, and not have to deal with this.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Snow's been a following me...

I think my 'Weather Karma' isn't doing so well. Perhaps I used it all up on Our trip down to SoCal last month for the Lacrosse games. Sitting by the beach eating at nice restaurants used up my good weather.

This week was no different - snow in Detroit, ice floes in the river, and now it is supposed to snow here in Utah tonight and tomorrow.


At least it continues to be cold enough to wear my vest!

You can see in this picture folks are queuing up to use the tunnel into Canada

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Another King Wha Devotee

Here's a quote I received today from a student in Seattle. I recommended they drive down to Burien one night after class and try out the 'World's Best Mongolian Beef'...

See, it's not just me!
______________________________________________________

...On a side note, we did go to King Wha for Mongolian beef. Since I was there, I’ve had it at 2 of ‘the best’ Chinese restaurants in town here. Guess what? Not only did they not even look close to the same, it wasn’t spicy (not even a little), the serving was much, much smaller, there were too many vegetables mixed in with the meat, and the meat itself wasn’t sweetened – they served with sweet and sour on the side at both places like I was supposed to sweeten it myself. I guess what I’m saying is, thank you for getting us to King Wha, but now Mongolian beef has been forever ruined for me as nothing can compare!!

Thank you Keith,

Joshua Shillington
Spectrum Health
Grand Rapids, MI

______________________________________________________

If you are ever in the Seattle area, you've got to try this!

Detroit for the Week

Well, here I am this week teaching another AM-105 class - this time about 4-hours down the road from last week's Toronto class. (I did get to fly home for a day home on Saturday, sing in the choir at Church for Easter Sunday, give a Sunday School lesson, then back on a plane flying East)

It is pretty cold here - they got snow last weekend, and the river is still frozen a bit in places. The city of Detroit sits on the North side of the Detroit River - that connects Lake Huron with Lake Eire. It is the only US City that faces Canada to the South... Windsor Canada is just across the river to the south.



I'm teaching and staying at a nice Courtyard Marriott... actually the best Courtyard I've ever been to. Across the street is the Renaissance Center - GM's worldwide headquarters and a huge building complex. Over 5.5Million Square Feet in the building!



I wasn't able to get a flight at the right time to go to Grand Junction on Friday to watch Brent's BYU Lacrosse game... so I'll just fly home after the class is over.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Toronto AM-105 - BYU .vs University of Arizona


Well, I'm stuck here in Toronto cold wet and snowy, teaching an AirMagnet AM-105 course... and I missed tonights 'blow out' game. BYU really 'spanked' the LaxCats of UofA - 16:1.

I had Grandpa call from the game every quarter and give me an update. I'd planned on listening in on the Internet version of the game, but it wasn't being broadcast and the web site wasn't up for the live stats even.

It was good to here the BYU Cougar Lacrosse squad, especially the Defense stepped up and played to their ability tonight. Yea! Go Cougars... Rise and Shout the Cougars are out, on their way to fame and glory... (Ok, at least I can sing the fight song to myself here in the hotel room) Rah, Rah, Rah, - Rah, Rah, Rah... Gooooooo Cougars!

Oh yea, the class is going well also.

Friday, March 14, 2008

802.11 N - Webinar for AirMagnet

I was lucky to have 10 days at home after the last Seattle training gig.

I spent a portion of the time preparing for the TechMentor conference in San Francisco in a couple of weeks. I've got 4 sessions to teach there, and also prepare a new 'Master' USB drive for all the students. This USB stick has loads of software and training materials that need to be updated.

The rest of the time was in course development. I have a new course coming for AirMagnet on 802.11 N - the latest version of Wireless LAN protocols. This one is very complex. If the previous 802.11b was math it would be addition/subtraction/multiplication/division, and the 802.11g and 802.11a would be like geometry and algebra... but 802.11 N is so complex its like adding Statistics and Calculus at the same time.

So for this first 802.11 N Primer - something to help the students get up to speed on all the vocabulary and a 'toe dip' into the technology. Later as I role out the new 802.11 N one-day class, we'll have more time to get into the "nitty-gritty" of the technology in more detail.
So late Wednesday night I took the last flight out to San Jose, the flight was delayed for 2 hours because of a flight attendant issue, got to my hotel late, then got up on Thursday and went over to AirMagnet offices.

I had a couple of hours in meetings with various tech support, development and marketing folks - then a 'recording session' to tape my Webinar on 802.11 N.
A quick trip... but hopefully the professional recording will sound much better this way for the attendees. Here is a sampling of the topics and slides from the webinar.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

BYU -vs- Arizona State University

Tonight was another BYU Lacrosse game - this time against Arizona State University (Sun Devils).
Brent got to guard a pretty tall attackman!

We won 17 to 15! Yea!

We were down 5-1 in the first quarter, fought back, got ahead, tied, got behind, tied, then finally pulled ahead in the end.
Brent got to play a in each quarter. He got a few ground balls.Grandpa and I like to sit on the sidelines, right about the midfield line on our folding chairs. There are bleachers, but the chairs are just a bit warmer than the aluminum benches, and we like to be close to the action.
It was a bit too dark for me to get very many shots. The lights on the field just weren't bright enough, and my lens not fast enough to get

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Ouch... just rub it in...

In Saturday's mail was the latest issue of the MCLA Lacrosse magazine. This is the league BYU plays in. Last year BYU took the MCLA National Championship. And this year they were ranked #1 in the pre-season polls. Thus they have a big target on their back.

On the road trip to LA a couple of weeks ago we played a hard-fought game against Chapman - and lost by just one goal in the final seconds of the game.
On the cover of this issue is the quote "#15 Chapman Takes Down #1 BYU" - go ahead just rub some salt in that open wound... Ouch, just put it out right in front of the world!

The Chapman Face-Off player was just amazing - taking 26 of 33 Face-Offs.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Spring is coming!

I noticed when I came home from Seattle this week little flowers were starting to push their way up in our front yard. The rest of the garden area is still bleak and various shades of brown. But these flowers Jill's planted are breaking through. I thought some pictures would be good.

BYU -vs- Michigan State

Coming off last week's loss to Michigan, the Cougar Lacrosse team was out to prove they could still win. And Win they did this afternoon on a cold, almost stormy, Provo venue. I think this week I'll just put up all the photos and let them speak for themselves. I see some other photographers with big fast lens - boy would that make some of these shots easier to get. But these aren't too bad for just shots from sitting on the sideline.

Michigan State Shoots - Christian Saves

Nice Shot!

Now that's Going For the Shot!

Wide Angle Shot of Brent Guarding

Broken Lacrosse Stick

Brent Guarding

Don't Mess with Brent

Final Score

Karrissa and McKinley Here for Week

We were so glad to have Karrissa and McKinley down here for this week. Joe was down over the weekend for his sister's wedding on Saturday, but had to return on Sunday to Dental School in Las Vegas. It was very nice having Karrissa here to play with her brothers and sister. They sure have a good time together. And Jill gets a good excuse to go out shopping with her daughters - a well deserved form of recreation for them both. We were sad to send them home on a plane this evening. We miss you already!

Some photos from their time here this week...


Advanced WLAN Design Course in Seattle

Monday - Wednesday of this past week I spent in Seattle - right downtown, just north of Pike's Place Market. Our venue was the Workforce Development Center building - a nice view overlooking Elliot Bay - a little distracting at times in class - watching the boats and ships going by.
Wednesday had 'The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen are in Seattle" kind of day. The Mountain was 'out' and all was good with the world. (But I had Monday and Tuesday's grey and rain to remind me why we don't live there any longer)

Jill's Birthday Dinner at Sundance

Jill's favorite place for dinner is the Foundry Grill up at Sundance. Since Karrissa and McKinley were still in town... we went up on Friday night to dinner with our family. (Joe was down in Vegas studying for some mid-terms)After Jill got off work, Karrissa back from visiting, Ryan finished with work and school and Brent finished Lacrosse practice... we all headed up the mountain for a nice relaxing dinner sitting in front of a roaring fire - enjoying the food and each other's company.It is very nice to have all the kids at home at the same time. Jill opened her presents, held McKinley, and had a great dinner.