Life on the High Plains

This week was refreshing!  After the week I had last week in the world of IT I needed to be reinvigorated and it happened at just the right time. Once a year all the IT people in my FC district meet for a "knowledge share".  We take turns hosting it and this year it was in Tulsa. #1 - I got to spend an evening with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.  When you come from a small family, anytime you get to spend with your loved ones is special.  Since I didn't see them at all last year I felt blessed to have a couple hours with them this week.  I will admit that I was a really bad blogger and didn't snap a group photo. #2 -  This group of IT  Professionals Geeks is a lot of fun.  I've known most of them for 10 years and some of them for 23 years and some of them I just met.  We come from California, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  Just spending time with them and hearing their challenges and breakthrou...

It has finally happened.  I have a studio of my own! It all started with a trip to this place.  This place that I love although I rarely buy anything there--it's usually just the fun of going to look at all the stuff this place sells.  We put on 4,000 steps in this store on Sunday, that's almost two miles.  I bet Mr. Beans is really sad to have missed out on this trip. What do you need when you're putting a studio together?  Shelves, cubbies, bins, desk space and that's exactly what we got after a couple hours of shopping to find just the right items.   This is my previous "studio".  A corner of one of the guest rooms with no space for organization.  Anyone who knows me knows I can't stand clutter and disorganization.  So guess what?  Guest room #2 has been retired and Ellen's Studio has moved in.     Here it is in its new state...organized, clean, and very girly!     I have a ...

This is long overdue, but here's how the State Democratic Convention went. Wouldn't you know it?  A big snowstorm was forecast for the weekend, in fact the Denver airport cancelled all flights for that Saturday.  I left work early on Friday and made the drive up to Loveland. The first night was the 5th Congressional District Assembly/Convention.  Basically we chose who our candidates would be for the November election.  U.S. Senator Michael Bennett stopped by to say a few words. We were issued our "official" credentials including the ballot for the presidential poll.  You see, delegates to the national convention are awarded to candidates in correlation to how many votes they receive at the state convention.  The 5th Congressional District was split about 33% for Hillary and 66% for Bernie.  Hillary received two delegates while Bernie received three for the congressional district.  On Friday night we elected those delegates. I ...

Can you say "Day from H-E-double L"? That's what the last 24 hours have been.  I decided to do a little maintenance on a server late in the day yesterday.  I was going to resize a partition.  That's it. Unfortunately there wasn't enough space on the drive to do it so I just exited and rebooted.  That's when all hell broke loose.  The server would not come back up no matter what I tried. That's okay, I said.  I'll just get the backup and move the files to another server.  No, the onsite backup had power issues and didn't want to cooperate. At this point I went into panic state. After a 15 hour work day I had to leave because the security alarm was about to be activated.  Do you think I slept a wink?  No, I laid there all night thinking about the whole department of people who weren't going to be able to work because the server had crashed and how I was going to be fired (no such luck).  Plus I was hungry because I hadn't tak...

I got to take a road trip to our office in Monte Vista this week.  The day started at 6:00 a.m. with fog.  It cleared up enough for me to get a good shot of the Spanish Peaks. This is one of the more beautiful places in Colorado.  Don't you love those snow-capped peaks? It's about a 3 hour drive to Monte Vista.  I installed a couple new computers, reconfigured their newly constructed server room and then headed back home. On the way home it rained a little, it snowed a little over La Veta Pass, and then the sun was shining the rest of the day. This is a shot of the Peaks from the western side. A road trip in God's Country is a day in paradise. Happy Skywatch Friday!

It's almost time!  The Colorado State Democratic Assembly and Convention start Friday night! It has been an exciting week getting all the information in preparation for our check-in to the 5th Congressional District Assembly on Friday evening!  Official emails from the state democratic party and even an email of thank you from Hillary for serving as her delegate.  Lots of encouragement from my fellow delegates to make sure everyone of us shows up so that Hillary will receive her fair share of the Colorado delegates (unlike what the Colorado Republicans did last weekend).  Campaigning materials are coming from all those running for a national delegate spot.  I'm kind of glad I decided to drop that idea--too much competition.  I will tell you though that I will watch as much of the national convention as I can.  I already know what an emotional experience it will be when Hillary becomes the first woman presidential candidate for the Democratic party....

We're about to embark on a week filled with lots of critter stuff. First, my sweet little Sophie has this nasty, nasty sore on her head.  She's had it for a couple months.  She's been through a round of antibiotics followed by a round of steroids.  It keeps getting bigger and more nasty.   Today she's at the vet's office getting a skin biopsy done so we can find out exactly what it is and how to treat it.  Can you say cha-ching?  This is what happens when you take on the responsibility of owning critters.   In even more exciting critter news...     Little Eva (yes, that's her new name unless it's 94 like Irv wants to call her or Mouse like her foster family has been calling her) may finally get to come live with us this week.    After five weeks in foster care, the Humane Society decided she needed surgery to repair her broken bones.  Yesterday she had a femoral head and neck ostectomy which...

Beautiful sunrise this morning when I went out to feed my boys.  Doc was especially happy to see me and wanted a kiss (or something). What he really wanted was breakfast.  Such a sweet horse! Happy Skywatch Friday!

I've been a super bad blogger again.  I think it's been almost two weeks since I posted anything.  It seems like work totally consumes my life these days.  If I'm not working then I'm sleeping or else I'm laying in bed thinking about work when I should be sleeping. As promised, the recap of our hike in the Arizona desert follows. On the morning of Miss G's birthday party I think her mom wanted us out of the house for a few hours so guess who got to entertain his in-laws?  He knows we like to hike and he took us out into the desert on a delightful morning and Miss G got to come with us. This my usual view when I'm hiking with others.  Why?  Because I carry a camera everywhere I go and I like to stop and smell the roses along the way.  Pretty cool contraption that G is riding in don't you think? Every once and a while Irv will grab the camera from me and take my picture.  I shedded my jacket quite quickly.  I'm from Colorado and...