I am moving my journal to my own server so that I can use MovableType. I am not enjoying the slashdot interface, and it is slower than my home server to add an entry, and I can't control the look and feel, and I can't add photos, and...

Oh, and I find that I never complete any of my JEs when I write them on slashdot, since I tend to rant rather than journal here... I always start typing, spend 15 minutes and realize that I've made no sense so I just never post it.

I haven't journaled here since before Christmas. Oops. Oh well, I guess I have a lot to put.

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy. Like having pipes in my house freezing and bursting, Having the car break down, working like mad to get our new product integrated at work, and many more! I really need a break.

Ah, it will be nice for Christmas to get here. For one, I will be on vacation until the 5th of January, so I will get a much needed rest. But as well, we will have the chance to spend time with family and friends. I am looking forward to that.

We are planning a party for the home group. I mentioned it to people yesterday after church, and they seem to be up for it. Yay, they still love us...

I am currently downloading development tools form Microsoft. gak! gah! ugh!

I hope when I get to be an old man, that I don't look back and feel that I've missed out. I frequently have way too many things to do, so when a free moment comes up I end up watching TV, or browsing the web because I am too tired to do something enriching.

I always feel I should be reading a book, practicing my guitar, writing music and poetry, or praying. I don't spend enough time with my kids, I don't cook new foods, I don't write new programs in new programming languages...

No one showed up for home group again last night. I think we may as well say it's done, since that is about 4-5 weeks that either no one or just one person has showed.

We went to bed early, so I brought my laptop and played with soundtracker a bit. I figured out the bass line for my mod, so I was happy.

I have been taking a litle more active participation in /. lately. Not quite sure why, 'cause it is busy at hell here at work. I guess I do have a fair bit of downtime during the build/copy-to-server/test/rebuild cycle.

Watched the Devils win the Stanley cup last night. They really put it to the Ducks - they hardly had a chance. Kinda makes you wonder what happened in those other three games.

I know that being a Devil's fan is an odd choice for a guy who has never even been to New Jersey. I guess I'm just strange like that. Still, it is alway good to see your hard work cheering at the TV rewarded :-)

My Karma is excellent! (not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Why do I care? I don't really. It's just funny that I noticed my Karma was "Bad" a few weeks ago, and made a resolution to change it. And here I am. Is there something beyond "Excellent"? "Supreme", perhaps? Maybe I'll log in sometime and discover that my Karma is "L337".

I am now starting to work on my first project as a "developer" with my company. Traditionally, I have referred to my role in the company as a "script monkey" or "code cowboy", but my latest project (an installer for our company's product) turned out to be good enough and needed enough that "we" have decided to "productize" it in the next release.

Today is my wife's birthday. She turned twenty-nine for the first time ;-)

I woke the boys up early, and we skulked around the house preparing homemade birthday cards and toast with cheddar and jam (her favorite). It is nice to be a dad sometimes, when you see your children expressing love to their mother.

It's funnly how lonely you can feel in the midst of a crowd. I have been reading slashdot for ages, long before moderation and Karma existed. For years, I have been getting more or less accurate news, and feeling like everything is passing me by.

It occurred to me the other day that the little box in the top right corner of the page displayed what slashdot thought of me:

Karma: Bad

My Karma was bad? how can that be?