Text Archive Version 6
3/16/2002 to 10/17/2002

10/17/02 - Still no Java... Babes and the Voluntary List... Improved Pages...

Well the Harper teachers are still on strike, so my java class is still on hold...

As you all probably know, I've released "Babes in the Wild" to the internet. I didn't get a lot of comments on this one. I think part of the reason is that it is not an "up" song, it is introspective and a simple production...

Anyway, my original song notification list consisted of all my family and friends, anyone who requested a free CD, the people in my songwriter group and any other musicians and acquaintances that I traded emails with... This was actually quite a few people from all over the world! (see my CD shipments page)... It became kind of a routine part of doing a song, to send out notifications.

I was thinking of dropping the notifications altogether so I wouldn't be pestering those who had no interest at all, but then again, my notifications always generated at least a few responses. Sometimes a brief comment on the song and then an update from my friends on the list...

Anyway, I thought that this may be the end of the notifications... I was pleasantly surprised to get quite a few people that wanted to stay the notifications list! Even a few people that I don't really know except from sending them CDs...

I feel good about the new voluntary list. Those that don't have an interest won't be pestered and I am grateful to those that are interested and I feel a little better about sending out the notifications to smaller but more interested group.

Oh yea, don't think that you are completely off the hook if you are a "Chapman Family Page" reader... I'm sure I still can't resist putting a note HERE for the new song releases! (hey, that's the beauty of having total freedom of speach on your own page... :-) :-) ).

Many of my pages will look a little better now too (especially on the music site). I just discovered a quirk with the FrontPage version that I have and all of the background images were looking at an area on my own PC. So they looked fine to me (on my PC) but you guys never saw them... (Dale pointed this out with Corinnes glasses picture (below) Thanks for the quality control). Any way I've fixed most of them so you should see some slightly improved pages now...

10/10/02 - Class Pictures are in... School's Out... (for now)... Works in... and Still trying for 1000 miles!

Yes, I am avoiding doing my homework :-)... (scanning pictures and doing page updates...) But then again, our teachers (at Harper) are out on strike for now anyway... YeeHaa! No school! (hey, wait, I volunteered for this...:-()

I actually did a little of my java work tonight anyway... I do want to know this stuff. This class is way too hard though for a 3 semester hour 100 level class... Really, I didn't expect to have to do this much work for this class... The threads assignment alone took me over 20 hours! and other people in the class said that it took them as long or longer also... it's pretty crazy... I'm not even a real propeller head or geek or anything like that... (am I? :-| ) ...and it's hard while working a new job also...

OK, Here's the job update so far... Work is still work (a four letter word, of course). Now having said that, it is going pretty well so far. There's enough of a challenge to be interesting but it is not ridiculous and the people have been very nice and helpful. The commute hasn't been too bad either. It's pretty much at Ohare Airport, but it has only been taking about 1/2 hour (each way) most of the time, which is about 1/2 the commute to my last (demonic) job... Ooppss... did I put in a jab at DontCareMark the Evil and Unethical, yet successful (like Hitler) pharmaceautical company? Sorry, I've tried to resist negative stuff here but I just couldn't resist that one any longer... :-)

But I've gotten a little off the track (and in the gutter)... the new place is pretty nice so far... OK, I'll get back to my regular PG13 family material now... (that did feel good though :-) :-) )

It's getting hard to get to my season bike goal now also. With work and less daylight, I don't have a lot of good riding time... I am so close to 4 digits for this one season (OK, it was cheating by being off work, but I am still close to 1000 miles!!!) I'm sure I will get that last 50 or so in before I have to put the chains on the wheels...

10/4/02 - Under-Employment or End of Summer Vacation...

It was really really nice having this extra time... but... I must get back to work now... Yep, technically I am employed again although I think that it more is more accurately "under-employed". I am still a programmer-analyst-consultant type of person, but what I have is a 3 month contract. So at the end of 3 months... Well, we will see how it goes... Bye Bye, Summer Vacation.

I am very glad to still be programming (for now anyway, even though I am using the same old endangered languages and technology). I was checking into other lines of work and it wasn't looking good... Anyway, this is actually through my old consulting company (Analysts International (AiC)) and the people at the place where I will be working seem very nice. I am cautiously optimistic about the position and I think that it is very possible that it will go longer than 3 months... (hopefully not shorter than that! :-( ). I start Monday.

It is going to be very hard keeping up with my java class while working (I scheduled the class knowing that I would be off for at least part of the class) let alone all the stuff I have to do at home! Oh well, back to real life... and pay checks again!!! yippee!!!

9/22/02 - Cheap Entertainment

What a beautiful FALL (now) weekend! Dara, Corinne and I just got back from Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a fantastic day for it and it was actually just about 100% free. For those of you who do not know, Lincoln Park Zoo has totally free admission. It just costs $9.00 to park unless you can find a place on a nearby side street... Which we did!!! I got pretty lucky and found someone pulling out on a street REAL close to the zoo... So the whole day cost a total of a few bucks in gas and I sprung for a $2.00 chirro (sp?) for Corinne... We could not talk Casey into going... He hasn't been to big on zoos for a few years now, and is getting more particular with his entertainment... we missed him, but he had more fun at his friends house today... (We'll kidnap him on the next trip :-) ).

After making the rounds at the zoo... (Oh yea, I learned the difference between tortoises and turtles) we walked over to Lake Michigan and walked along the lake for a while. We were actually looking for a beach (with sand, you know) but this is a rocky and cement lake shore area... no sand around there but it is still a really cool area even with all the bikers, joggers, walkers, roller bladers and other health nuts around! All in all it was about 4 hours of walking, so we even got a free workout thrown in as a bonus!!! wow what a deal!

9/19/02 -

9/11/02 - I witnessed another 9/11 PLANE CRASH today! (a True 9/11 (2002) story)

Yes, it's true! Less than a mile in front of me! I saw a plane start diving to the ground... I don't know what the pilot was thinking! I thought he would pull up and break out of the dive! Then, before I knew it, I saw it crash straight into the ground!!! The plane was smashed to pieces! But the pilot walked away (or actually TO the plane) unharmed...

Yes, this is completely true, but I am, of course building the story up (kind of like a real news story) and making more out of it than it really was... I was riding my bike through Deer Grove and noticed some model airplanes (the clue) doing some great manuevers... it was cool to watch. Then I see one of them diving to the ground (not at all unusual for these things, they were doing this stuff the whole time), Then before I know it BAM! No more sound from that model engine! This was only about 1/10 of a mile in front of me... within seconds I ride by the wreakage... Those little planes are VERY expensive. It was smashed to bits... I don't know if the engine or controls could even have survived that! The pilot was not physically hurt (of course) but I bet he took a little bit of a financial hit on that one!

Anway, with many of our thoughts on 9/11 a year ago, I couldn't help but think of the analogy or similarities. In a matter of seconds things change very unexpectedly. It was really fun to watch these things fly and I am sure that the pilot was having a great time. Well, I don't think this is how he planned to end his day, but unlike a year ago, no one was hurt here and life goes on pretty much as usual (maybe a little like a year ago as far as that goes)... just some passing thoughts...

I'm not sure why, but I hung the old flag out last night to get another days use out of it...

9/8/02 - New Bike Season Record and Ride, a 9/11 song

I wanted to do my traditional (so far) bike record breaking celebration with the whole family (as usual) but Casey was sick today so we were down one... He was with me for our other record breaking trips so we are all still pretty even :-). Dara, Corinne and I did the Fox River trail today for the ceremonial ride. We had some fun with the walkie talkies (that I just found) and made a little trip to a Dairy Queen in Algonquin.

Breaking the record this year was actually fairly easy since I have had so much additional time from not working. I wasn't really intentionally pushing myself for this, but I have ended up doing quite a bit of riding just because I have the time and really, really enjoy it. Now, I am curious if my bike odometer will actually store 4 digits! I may find out soon...

In memory of 9/11 and with the anniversary comming up, here is a nice inspirational, patriotic 9/11 song. The song is called We Will Stand, and here is the link www.mp3.com/erichorner. (I can't really do this type of stuff myself, so I am just passing on a link that I got through a songwriter newsletter).

Not much other breaking news to report tonight... So seeya and/or eya all later...

9/3/02 - Happy Post-Labor Day.

I was hopeing to get an update in yesterday, but missed my deadline :-). I hope you all had a nice long weekend. I took a few extra days off for my labor(less) day weekend... Like 4 months!!! (and counting) :-) :-) :-)

The kids are back in school (as I mentioned below) and we started with kind of a low key weekend. Then yesterday we cashed in the free Santas Village tickets that cousin Nadia won when we went there for Caseys birthday!!! That was a real nice (totally free) treat! It was more crowded than our last visit, but we still had quite a few hours of fun there!

Not too much else to report... I did actually consider trying to make 911 miles on my bike odometer (for the season) prior to 9/11. At the time, figured that I would need 13 miles everyday (without missing a day) until the 11'th... Well, I did that for a few days and I'm sure that I will make 911 this year, but I think that that was just a little more than I wanted to do right now... My new record is comming up quick!...

later,

8/20/02 - Schools Back... Bike Record within Range..., 911 Tribute...

Well, school starts tomorrow (here anyway). We've been busy getting ready for it. I think the kids even look forward to it a little bit. At least the first day anyway. I was just thinking that I've really enjoyed having so much time with them this summer (even though I am getting real bummed out and nervous about this long unemployement).

Corinne is in a combined-grade class this year (4'th and 5'th are together) and she has a great teacher (Casey's favorite from way back when he was in grade school (last year! :-) :-) )). Casey starts Jr High this year. Wow! I', not sure if I am ready for that... but it is happening anyway!!! ...

and Finally I have signed up for the 2'nd Java class also. I signed up for it thinking that I could drop it (with a refund) if I changed my mind. I was real undecided because the class alone won't probably do that much in terms of getting a job, but I am thinking that I will follow through and do it anyway. There are enough reasons why it might be good to do it...

At the beginning of bike season, I really didn't think that I had a chance to beat my 801 mile record and wasn't really pushing for it all that much, but with our now famous Fox River Trail rides and a lot of additional riding time (some for therapeautical reasons :-) ) I am in easy range of my old record and I am hoping for a 4digit record this year!

Earlier in the year, I considered doing some kind of 9/11 tribute. Like trying for 911 miles or trying to hit 911 miles right on 9/11. Well, maybe if I get it right, I can do that... Call the News Channels!!! Sign up the Sponsors!!! Just kidding... This will be a low profile event. I'm sure there will be major 9/11 tributes this year, all around the country (and hopefully only good stuff and no criminal bastards trying for a double play (sorry for the R rating on the ol family page, but I think that most of us have pretty strong emotions about this one)).

No matter what else is going on, and whether or not I get to 911 on 9/11 (that would be pretty hard at this point), I'm sure that I will pause a moment...

8/14/02 - Missing my CamCorder Still Pics...

OK, I am going trhough camcorder-download-withdrawal... I have not been able to fix my downloader. I tried a bunch of stuff and I think that I need to get a new card for this... Ah well, I still got my scanner!

So, just to keep things going here, I dug out and scanned some really OLD pictures... First of all, if you haven't seen my MP3.com page, check out that picture... Yes, it is me at a very young age :-), I like to lighten things up sometimes...

Now here is a picture from about the time my family moved to California I believe... My brother is driving...

... and here's me when I had hair... (70's of course...) (I may use this for my next music page picture... A nice advantage to not playing live shows is that maybe no one will know the difference...)

OK, I gotta git now... later...

8/7/02 - Kids eat a lot... Quality Time... Copying Tracks While Writing This...

I have heard that teenage boys eat a lot. Well, I think that starts before teen-age! I am buying and making a lot of the meals these days and I am having a hard time keeping up with Casey. He is a major eating machine these days...

It has been fantastic weather this week! The temperatures dropped a little (not too much) and the humitity is down and it has just been some great later summer (almost fall-like) days. Being out of work is, of course, a major financial problem BUT it really has been great to be around the kids so much lately. When I focus on that I realize how lucky I am... Wow, how is that for putting a positive spin on things!!! :-) :-) It really is nice in that way (when I am able to stay focused on the really important stuff :-) ).

I STILL do not understand how people can get bored!!! Maybe if I am stuck in traffic or waiting in a line or something it gets a little boring, but I still love my time off (hate the financial part though) and have more things that I want to do than I have time to do... let alone the pesty stuff that has to be done...

I am multi-tasking as we speak (or as I write I should say)... I am making the final track copies of my latest song (hopefully, unless I get critical and decide to change a bunch of stuff at the last minute). Most of you will be getting a notification pretty soon... I considered dropping my song notifications but it has become kind of a tradition and I always get a few responses about the songs or it just triggers an update from some people too so I think I will keep doing them for now anyway... See the song pages (you know www.SongPuppy.com) for all the latest. Actually I still have all the uploads and page updates to do, so it won't be there just yet... We'll see how the next few days go....

Well, that should do it for now... Stay tuned... Talk to yas later...

8/1/02 - Schools Out!

Just finished the final for my java class! I don't know what kind of grade I will end up with, but that really doesn't matter except for my own gratification. The mid-term and final were hard and I only did average on the mid-term... I got 100% on all of the assigments and I feel like I have learned the basics of the language pretty well, and can pick up the rest as I need it (if I need it).

I'm not sure what is next on my list in this area... The next class, Java certification, just write some code for games or pages or something else, but at least I got a good start on this...

I'm keeping this one short... more later...

7/27/02 - Got some new pictures... No camcorder shots though :-(

I just sat down to scan and download some pictures and spent over an hour trying to get the camcorder still picture software working... no joy... :-( I went out to the Adaptec site and logged a problem email. Of course, I probably won't hear anything until Monday at least... (I sure hope it's fixable!)

Well, I got the scanning done anyway so check out the pictures... I still haven't quite got the hang of when to snap the shot... that's why the camcorder still pics seem to work better for me most of the time (even though the camera pictures are way better quality...).

These are the 'people shots' that I got with the camera... All of the 'action shots' are stuck in the camcorder (for now)...

Pictures at Lars #1
Pictures at Lars #2

Not much else new really... I am finishing up my Java class and Corinne and I just went to the pool again tonight (we sure our getting our moneys worth out of our pool passes this year!).

Stay tuned... more later...

7/19/02 - Been There, Done That. Did it again. ...and did something else!

We did another casual family bike ride again today... to Wisconsin!!! :-) This is getting to be our normal little family ride now... and it was Casey and Corinnes idea (I wasn't really sure if I was ready to do this again). Casey has been wanting to ride to his cousins (once removed) house (Steve, Jake, Nick, & Ari) in Cashton Wis. and wanted to find some routes that connected to our original trails. Corinne would not be left out of this either... so we did it again.

It was a really nice day for it. Warm, but not too hot and a little overcast (this helped us to not get so sunburned). A friend of my had just described bike riding as a "family sharing sport". I think that this can be very true. This is really some great quality time with the family. My parents used to camp a lot and I have lots of good memories from that... Well, I'm not really that big on camping and, of course, like biking a lot, so the kids just naturally get stuck into some of that... Hopefully, we will be making some good memories...

... and for the something else part, when we were driving back (yes driving, I doubled back to get the van in Dundee again at the 1/2 way point) through Richmond, Il. we stopped for this little old/hot rod/antique car show deal that they have goin on in the street on Friday evenings... It was fun to see these fancy dancy cars... and reminisce about my old 62 Nova, 64 Impala and 66 Chevelle... (I guess the Hornets and Citations have not reached antique, cool car status... yet... :-) :-) :-) ) Casey and Corinne even liked some of the cars, and a little fudge stop was fun too...

Well it's getting really late, so I guess I'll just call it another great summer day and get this update uploaded...

Check in again soon... later Rob&co...

7/15/02 - Fly By Shooting... Not Much Else... "In-house" help desk

Here's a picture that my brother took while flying over my aunt Helens house... that must have been hard trying to fly AND take the picture!!!

Not that much else new to report... But that doesn't stop me from writing... :-) The mid-summer weather has been really really nice (it's cooled down a little). We've been doing a little more boating and bikeing here and there and spending some time at the pools... Corinne and I had a "boat picnic" the other day (sandwitches in the boat, out on the lake)...

My Java class has been keeping me pretty busy... we've learned all of the basic language fundamentals now and we're starting the more practical GUI (graphics) programming (I'm looking forward to that). Casey is looking forward to me programming the game that he and Kyle have designed... That still doesn't seem real practical, but maybe I can get something going for them...

I am hoping that I will have enough background, with the Java class and a little additional self training, to get the Sun Java Certification. I think that and 2 quarters may get me a cup of coffee (java) these days... :-) :-), but hey, it's probably worth a try... The job market has been completely dead and I am less sure of what kind of fill in work that I may want/need to do...

I've also spent a little time doing "in-house" help desk support. Working on Casey's PC (in addition to my own)!!! Sheesh, it takes a lot to keep a multiple PC house functioning!!! :-) ...and I haven't even installed the network yet!!! I got AOL (free for 6 months) and ATT set up on Caseys... I'll take AT&T anyday!!! I got Limewire working... Got all the MP3s to his PC and figured out the CD writing software on his... (it takes about 2 minutes to write a 60min audio CD!!! (compared to about 12 minutes on our PC)), etc, etc...

I still haven't got the recording/production of the next song started... I really want to get that one down and move on to the next! :-)

That's it for now... catch ya all later...

7/5/02 - The Fourth and More... (Converted back to B&W from original colorized version :-) )

I hope you all had a nice 4'th of July! Ours was really nice... and of course there is still more to come!
First things first... Let me start with the first :-). We had a great time with Caseys traditional birthday celebration...
Santas Village, of course (the 10'th year in a row). Casey still enjoyed it... Corinne really likes it... and we just to make it more fun we had cousin Nadia and Aunt Karen with us too. It was fun and Nadia even won Santas Big Bucks Game!!! It's a little live game show where they pick 9 kids from the audience to compete in some interesting games! (Casey and Corinne also had a chance to play did a great job too).

[Wow, That RW&B writing is getting to my eyes... (sorry about that... always trying new stuff you know (and there are no rules for me on the family page :-) )). I think I'll stick with white now...]

We went to Dara moms house on the 4'th, had a nice time and saw the fireworks there in Glenview. I haven't been to the main event for a few years now since I don't always like to deal with the crowds and often had to work the next day, but I made it this year. It was very impressive and I believe the kids really liked it.

As usual (when Karen and Nadia are in town) I get a little solo time at home (Dara and the kids hang out at her moms a lot more than I do) so I've finished my next java program (It's getting a little harder, but I got a good solid "A+" going so far... (I shouldn't jinx it... ah well...)) and I've been working around the house and some other boring things...

Dara & kids are are the Palatine fireworks now... whilst I get a little time to type in this update... Oh yea, I almost forgot to mention it but Somehow Casey talked us into helping him buy his own PC for his birthday!!! It is obviously not a good time for us to be doing major purchases like this, but Casey has wanted this for years now and is willing to chip in all of his own (lawn, allowance, etc) money (except for the savings that we made him do) and with the other birthday money he is getting, our part is not too unreasonable... (still more than we normally consider reasonable). So I just ordered a pretty fancy-dancy Dell for him... It will be more current and faster than what I am using now!!!!!!! :-( :-( :-(

I got the next song mostly done (written (created) that is), but I am really trying to invent/define a new and unique style (which is kind of evolving) and the lyrics are just kind of a typical "I-love-you-love-me-back-please" type of thing... I think the music is really pretty good for this one though.

OK... This should be good for those of you who like to read... (I guess, I like to write) but it is getting a little long and there is a lot more of this weekend left so I better go now...

Ya'all come back now... ya hear?...

6/28/02 - "Wisconsin or Bust"... and Back! Escape to Wisconsin... New Distance Records!

I finally got off my bike long enough to do an update! Wow have we been bike riding alot!!! (check out my usual bike odo readings above...). First: Casey and I rode our bikes from East Dundee, Il (about even with Palatine as far as North/South goes) to Genoa City Wisconsin... AND BACK!!! 64 miles total!!! (It took us about 10 hours with stops and meals, etc.) Corinne really wanted to go but we had a late start and she turned back with Dara at Crystal Lake (about a 24 mile trip).

Next (Friday, 2 days later (I was not ready for this)) I agreed to do it again so Corinne could make it all the way to Wisconsin (on a 20 inch bike you know...). Well, Casey Corinne and Dara did the trip to Wisconsin again! (one way) Due to logistics and us not wanting to ride back again, I turned around 1/2 way and went back for the van this time (one of the more sensible ideas recently :-).

OK, I think that I will leave the condensed version here on the main page and put the details on a seperate page for those enquiring minds... Really *Click here* to check out all the exciting bike saga details on page 2!!! Don't miss it!

6/25/02 Just some Link Updates...

I just found a really handy and entertaining site. Movie Preview Site (Real Audio). You can see and hear movie trailors/previews (in Real format) so I thought I would put a link here. While I was at it I added a new Just Plain Helpful Links link and page (below). I am never on the cutting edge of this stuff, and most people find the cool sites before I do, but it might just be helpful at times...

Not much else to report right at the moment... Still job searching and doing my Java class. The programs are getting harder, but it's pretty interesting and fun for me (I just wish it didn't take so much time)... More later...

6/20/02 - The Unexpected FOURTY, Another GameBall..., Mud Riding...

OK, first the bike news. Casey and I went out for a little ride Tuesday... I wasn't planning anything extravagent, but decided to go on the Fox River trail, that I did a while ago, since Casey didn't like the hills on our main local route. The last time I was on that trail I did about 18 miles and I wan't sure if Casey would want to go that far... (yea, right!)

We started in East Dundee and went North... Past Algonquin... to Crystal Lake... asked Casey if he wanted to keep going... yep... I also told him that the trail actually went to the Wisconsin border... he wanted to go for it! (Note: I wasn't planning a marathon ride and didn't have any food, money for food, a hat, or anything practical, except for our water bottles)

Well, we went on to Mchenry (some really tough hills and long plains along the railroad tracks... Went 20 miles and Casey wanted to keep going!!! Well, since this was just 1/2 way, I convinced him to turn around (he had a game later that day and I had my Java class and we had to get back (besides for getting tired and just being 1/2 way...)) Well, the way back was pretty hard and gruesome. We both looked pretty ragged by the end... but we made it! 40 miles round trip! Later, when we were talking about the trip I realized that this probably ties my all time distance record (from when I was in my twenties... Not that I am any big-wig distance rider or anything, but it's an interesting milestone).

Casey (and me) still want to go for the Wisconsin trip (I estimated to be about 64 miles round trip). Of course, if (I mean when) we do it, I will post it with the bike news on the ol page here...

In other news... Casey got another game ball with his baseball team! He started out in a slump (and looked very disappointed with himself), then pulled out of it. Did some really good plays, but I think what impressed the coach was the way he does what he is told and is always dependable and right there where and when they need him. Congratulations to Casey (again)...

And our last story for tonight... this just in... Corinne did a pretty good followup to Casey and my ride by doing about 15 miles with Dara and I tonight and into some really rough off the road trails! We were trying to make this place in the woods that we used to go to and took the back roads and trails... It started out OK, but then the trail just kept getting worse and worse. The Mud was the biggest problem. Eventually we just had to turn back. But Corinne kept up with me (and Dara) and went as far as anyone really would really want to go on those trails. Corinne came really prepared though, and we had a GREAT Picnic, by a little lake on the way back. (I was late for my class... but hey, what's really important anyway?!?!?).

OK, that's the news for this very late spring day!!! Can't wait till summer gets here! :-) :-)

Stop by again soon...

6/16/02 - Very Nice...

What a nice weekend! The weather was just perfect today and I was just enjoying my combination Fathers Day, Birthday celebrations. I got a lot of nice birthday cards and phone calls from friends and family, some nice gifts (some gifts that I haven't even opened yet... :-)), a birthday dinner yesterday (thank you Dale), a nice Fathers Day dinner tonight, Dara made my favorite cake on my birthday, the kids were on their best behavior (most of the time anyway :-) ) and did some very nice things for me today, I did some basketball (and some video games) with Casey today, went to the pool with Corinne and Casey (breath... end the sentence).

All in all... it was a very nice weekend and I am appreciating some sunshine in my life for the moment. Not like "the future is so bright, I gotta wear shades" type of sunshine, but the small but incredibly important little things in life kind of sunshine...

Yes, very nice... kind of a beautiful day in reality land :-) OK, don't worry, I'll snap out of it... back to the regularly scheduled program again... Let's see... still no job, no job prospects, gotta get my homework done, transmission going out again, more bills, another song attempt, more apathy and rejection... OK, I'm getting back to reality based life again :-) :-)

(sunshine encore) Thank you everyone!!! I am very grateful for the very nice (and so-called) small things in life!!!

6/12/02 -

I just uploaded a few pictures from the camcorder...
SumSummerPictures
Here are the Pictures from the Air Show...

(more later....)

6/9/02 - Our Phones Are Back, Bike Trail, Boating, Air Show

Both of our phone lines are back now!

It's been a very busy weekend so far... Friday, I had a great bike ride on the Fox River Trail with a friend from AiC. I had been on a few different parts of this trail, but it is so long that there are still major parts that I have not been on. The section that we took (Dundee North to Crystal Lake) was really nice. I plan to do more of this trail as I get the time...

Yesterday, Corinne and I inflated our yacht (ie inflateable boat) and did some boating on our lake. That was fun and the lake was high, which I always like since our lake is so shallow normally... We then hit opening day at another of the pools by us, and had a nice dinner at Dara's moms house... all in all a pretty fun and busy day...

Today (Sunday) we went to the Aurora Air Show. This is an EAA thing at the Aurora airport and Larry (my brother), being in that EAA chapter, was working there. It was nice to have some connections and know the inside info on the events going on... I may have gotten some good pictures, but I haven't checked or downloaded them yet.

Well, so much for a quick update on the phones... (Actually, it's nice to cool down a little in the basement...)

later...

6/8/02 - Fairly Important Notice: Our Phone Lines Are Out

Our main phone line has been out since Wednesday (6/8). If you need to (or want to ) get in touch with us use the 4028 line, or EMAIL. (you could also try our cell phone, but we don't keep it on a lot). If you don't have our extra numbers, let me know (email) and I will send them to you (I keep this more low profile on the internet)...

The 4028 line is the dial in (that I am using right now) and only rings the phone in the basement. This phone has the answering machine though, so you can leave a message (I will check more often).

At first my dial in line went out and our main line was real noisy. So I placed a call and they fixed the dial in real good (I get nice 50K connections again) but they totally knocked out the main number!

They TOLD me that it should be back my Sunday Evening, at the latest (so it may be back soon anyway).

I actually have more updates, but it is another BEAUTIFUL DAY and I gotta get going... I will do another update soon (especially to update the phone message when we are back... That is, unless they knock out the data line again!!!!)

6/4/02 - Lifetime College Student, Some New Cover Songs, Heritage Air Page.

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I did an update... (I know our bike milage above is off... that is getting hard to keep up on with everyone doing it now... I will keep it as acurate as I can).

It's official. I have signed up for the Java class (and read a lot of the book already). I am once again A College Student. I don't know if this is really the best use of my time and the best ROI (at this stage), but I like the idea of learning another programming language and especially a more current (an so called portable) one, that I can use for PCs, in addition to for the "J" word (Jobs, you know (the reality based ones :-) :-) ).

I am attempting to set up some acoustic gigs and have recorded Some New Cover Songs to include with a little-mini-promo-package. I am trying to get paying gigs to help slow down my pending backruptcy proceedings (just kidding :-) (for now anyway :-( ). Check out Norwegian Wood and/or Bobbi Mcgee if you like... (no announcements or anything of course since these are not original). I tried to keep these very acoustic sounding, which made it a little easier, but I couldn't resist adding some nice background sounds/fills...

Oh yea, I started a page for one of Larry's (my brother) Fly-Boy clubs... Check out the Heritage Air Page if you like... That's my bro doing the aireobatics (flying loops) at the top :-).

I gotta get back and upload all these updates... (and the phone lines have been bad today, so I hope this makes it)...

later, Rob&co

5/21/02 - This just in...

Wow what a nice day... (a little cool, but nice). Casey had a game tonight, Corinne had a tennis lesson and Dara had a badmitton banquet. My main reason for this little update is that Caseys baseball team gives out a "game ball" after each game to the player that did the best at that game. Guess who got the game ball tonight. You got it! Smashing a grounder to the outfield to get on first, steal the rest of the bases to score, Some great left field work, Some great plays at second base. All in all a great contribution to the team... Congratulations Casey!

5/19/02 - Cold May, Java games

It's been a pretty cold may so far... I just hope that we don't go straight from cold and windy to hot and humid overnight and miss all the nice moderate (warm) weather... but we probably will (pessimist alert).

I may have that application (practical use) for the java programming language that I was looking for. Casey and his freind had this great idea to develop a game (similar to a few that they do on the internet) and upload it to a site on the internet and wanted me to help them to get it going (they actually offered me $2.00 per hour (they probably don't know how much time this could actually take me :-) :-)))

Well I explained how difficult it would be, how much time it could take and that I would also have to learn a lot of new stuff just to help them with it... They agreed and were pretty excited about it. What they have in mind is more of a text based stratagy/attack/points/competition type of interactive game on the internet (not a complicated graphics game).

I figured this would be a good learning experience for them (and me) if they stay with it (and if I have the time)... They can learn about software design (or conception and design in general) and development (and how difficult it can be) and I can pick up a new language or two. What could be better??? (Casey is also offereing and pushing selling my CDs in return for the game help (see his web site link (below)).

I wasn't really sure about the tools to use and I think that I will probably have some options and need various tools but decided that this could be a pretty good use for java. So I installed the java software that I had recently downloaded and ran through a few tutorials and wrote a few programs (a stand alone java prog and an applet)... I had to try to stop myself from getting crazy staying up all night and trying to learn everything at once (I quit a 2am (but could at least sleep late)).

I am also trying to practice a lot to get ready for live shows and still pretty much plan to do the java class and maybe another class in the condensed summer semester. I kind of like the idea of being able to learn a lot in a condensed time frame (assuming I have the time myself).

I guess that's enough for a weekend update... stay tuned...

5/17/02 - Still Trying, Java, Gigs, Beatles (John and Jimi)

The latest song release (Fantasy Land) only got a luke warm reception. I really didn't think that it was one of my my best ones or would make my top 10 but I am still trying (to improve that is)... I am also still trying at the full-time-reality-based-day-jobs!!! Tweaking and sending out lots of resumes... It's just a really tight IS market... still... I am hoping to still do computer work for a while longer now... (especially since Fantasy Land didn't exactly land a publishing deal! :-) :-) ).

I have checked out the Java class at our JR College (across the street) and I believe that I can opt out of the pre-reqs... I have also downloaded the Development software and documentation, so if I can find some practical (and fun) stuff to do with it you may see some experiments on my pages!

I am also getting the band back together (We're on a mission!!). Since I can't seem to get the rest of the Blues Bros back together (or even hot poop), I guess I will be doing solo show (acoustic rock, of course)... more on that later (as I get it set up (if I have the time)).

OK, here's what I really wanted to get to... I've been into a Beatles revival recently. Especially JL (John). I wanted some old JL recordings and found most of what I was looking for on Limewire (Instant Karma, Imagine, etc.).

(I had to remove the song samples that were here for space...)

QUESTION FOR MY READERS: Does anyone know the name of the Beatles (or John Lennon) song that goes like... "The way things are goin... They're going to crusify me" Please email the title to me if you know it! Thanks

Later... Stay Tuned... Rob & co

5/7/02 - The Jury's Out, Song Release, Spring Concert...

Well at least I am out of the Jury (jury duty that is)! That was "educational" as usual. It really was kind of interesting. I planned on reading all day, if they didn't call my number, but sure enough my panel number was the FIRST to be called. So a bunch of us line up (cattle style) and go to court!

The judge explains the case... some guy charged accused of possession of cocaine and assaulting then shooting a cop! The judge explained the "beyond a reasonable doubt" thing, the "presumption of innocence", etc... and they started calling and eliminating potential jurors (they needed 12 + 2 alternates out of maybe 50 of us). The juror interviews were really interesting. One juror was a cop, one was previously charged with murder, one possession of pot, one had a kid in prison, one was a doctor, one a professor, etc, etc. I swear, the defense seemed to throw out any juror that seemed to have any intelligence and the district attorney tried to keep anyone that was a cop or had cop friends... (not too unusual)...

Anyway, I got kind of wrapped up in that and was prepared to do my duty as necessary. Well, they selected the 14 before I was called and I was glad to be going home. This was a federal court at California (south west Chicago) and it just didn't seem like the kind of place where I wanted to hang out a lot... let alone the 1 1/2 hour drive to get there!

Caseys clarinet part: Most of you that have made it to this page have probably also got my song release email ("Fantasy Land"). You can listen to the song and read all about that stuff on the music site but I wanted to drop a line about Casey's part in the song. I told him that I would not be using the clarinet part unless it was done well (no squeaks, in tune, in time, etc). He worked on it and practiced it and practiced with me a few times. Then we worked on the recording. I had him play his part over many times and took the best take. Then I added a little digital delay and moved it to the right parts in the song... OK, it's not exactly a featured part and it took some mixing but it is him and I am glad that we got it recorded for the nostolgia archieves!

On a related note... Casey had his spring band concert last night. It was very good and they keep getting better each time. I could see that Casey was doing the right stuff... like looking up and checking the conductor occasionally (unlike many of the other kids). At the same time it was a little bit sad because Casey did not sign up for band again next year (I think that those early morning rehearsals did him in). Well, each experience counts. He can keep what he has learned, build more musical experiences (if he wants to (like guitar, which he likes alot) and he can keep the memories (and so can we)... especially since we have him on the song recording!

Wow, this is getting long... I could write more, but I really have to go... later!

5/2/02 - Bike Club, New Member...

OK, Dara decided that she wanted to join the bike odometer mileage club (above). I've hooked up an odometer on her bike and we went on a little warm up ride in Inverness...

5/1/02 - May Day, May Day! Out of Work...

It's May!!! ... and a beautiful day it was today! I am actually not "out of work" as it says above, but I am done with the contracting assignment that I just had. It was supposed to take 5 months but I got the work done in 3 months!!! I actually feel really good about that... but yet now I have no income... but now I have time!... and the weather is really nice...

I signed up for unemployement benefits today, had a real nice bike ride, did some lawn work and played catch with Casey... All in all it was a great day and I feel great! Sometimes I have an almost ridiculous (almost stupid) optimistic view (other times not...) but for now, I will "Enjoy the Ride" (plug for one of my songs from last year)!

I was going to write my "I don't understand boredom when you are not at work" speeches (when there are bikes to ride, songs to write, kids to play with, recordings to make, books to read, web pages to update, cheap web tricks to learn, walks to take, pictures to take, camcording to do, beaches to go to, boats to ride in (like my inflateable), pools to go to (not open just yet though), (work to do... yuk) etc, etc (ie life to live))... but I'll save that for later... (or maybe I just wrote it J )...

Sorry, I'll try to keep my rambling to a minimum...

04/27/02 - April Showers for sure...

We sure have been getting a lot of rain! Another one of Caseys b-ball games was cancelled today (they actually played a few innings first... It was good for Caseys team that it was cancelled... they were getting creamed...)

Corinne was on a brownie campout last night. She was really excited about it... It may not have been the best weather though...

I've gotten in a little bike riding so far (mileage above), but not that much yet... 800 miles is going to be really hard to beat!!!

More later, I have been fooling around on the ol PC a little longer than I intended... I'm planning to get some more recording done, since it's raining.... Later...

04/17/02 - 2002 - Space Oddity! New Disk!

I'm BaaaK!!! (oops wrong movie). Well anyway, OK, here's how it goes... I take my PC cover off... and I hear THIS! (My PC keeps referring to me as "Dave"?)I disconnect the disk drive cage... I hear THIS!

OK... I eventually get the hardware in... Next, Change Jumpers, Format, Initialize, copy ALL my old files to the new disk... suddenly I hear... THIS!

OK, enough of this silly stuff... The drive is in! The only real casualities (that I've found so far) is that I had to sacrifice my ZIP drive (Because I ran out of power cables... maybe I'll fix this later) and I had to reload my MP3 player for some reason...

Got the new scanner in too!!! (no big whoop on that one...)

... and that's the news for this Wednesday, April 17th 2002... Good night all...

04/15/02 - Rob... This mission is too important... Rob... Don't do that.. Mary had a little....

Open the Pod Door Dell... OK, Here we go again... I'm disconnecting the PC and installing a new drive! My PC is talking to me again... ("I'm a Dell XPS R400 and we've never made a mistake...", etc. etc.).

Yea, I'm scared... That's why I'm doing this update... If I'm off-line for a while, you will know why... (I hope not)...

OK, doing backups and disk formatting... ba bye for now...

04/13/02 - Weekend Update... Holy Jumpin Fish... PC parts...

Well, the weekend has just begun, but I thought I would drop in an update while I got a moment (although there is a waiting line for the PC already (Casey and Kyle wantiing to get on and do some games)).

It was a beautiful day today (Saturday) and Corinne and I went out and did our first fishing of the season. I never saw more jumping fish than I did today. We must have seen 30 jump out of the water (no kidding!!!). Still we caught none! :-( Even with some live bait (yuk, fishin still isn't my favorite thing... but we had fun trying)....

In other news... my scanner broke and I just got another (they are cheaper to replace than fix) but haven't hooked it up yet... I am also getting desparately low on disk space and ordered another drive (also fairly cheap). I will do a bunch of backups and let everyone know before I attempt the install of the disk (in case you don't see another update for a few months...)... I hope I don't break anything in the process...

I was hoping to accumulate some more bike miles today but didn't get to that... ((maybe tomorrow) beating 801 is going to be hard). I got the first draft of my next song done. Check HERE if interested... Also, I got my first CD request from Canada today (for what it's worth)...

Well, that's it for now... the waiting line is getting restless... Later...

03/30/02 - Bike Season Begins... Getting Lamby... Applause track...

As you may have noticed, I've officially started my bike riding season and I've dug out and got Dara and the kids bikes up and running too... I've put air in all the tires (Dara's still may need some tire work) and I went out and bought new odometers for Casey and Corinne. At first I just got Corinnes because she lost her old one, but then Casey wanted one like hers (which was a little nicer (and he didn't loose his)) so I got him one too! (and installed both of em)...

I was going to update my "In like a Lion" picture to the traditional "out like a lamb" but it hasn't gotten real lamby yet... but it is getting there... warm enough to ride bikes...

I have also done an update to my song page Flash Intro again... I just changed the background music (and added some applause, like I was really playing for people... :-) Hey, it helped to mix the songs together and I didn't want to use a laugh track... :-) :-) no comments!!!).

Well, stay tuned... later...

03/19/02 - Rollblading at Roller Rinks Rocks!

Just a quick mid-week update. The kids school sponsored a free night at a roller rink by us tonight (Tuesday). I brought them there and thought that I would be bored hanging out there, but they grabbed an extra pair of rollerblades for me and I roller bladed with them for 3 1/2 hours! We had a great time!!!! I've only bladed a few times, but it was great at the rink (smooth floor, music, kids to dodge :-) (dodging the kids wasn't really that great, but the rink was...).

Well, I really gotta go (get to bed), I am going to be so sore tomorrow!

03/16/02 - GOT FLASH? Wake up and smell the internet! (I did)

OK, well maybe you can't smell it yet (maybe we don't want to), but at least experience it with more of your senses...

[Most of you probably already have Flash (try the links below)... If you don't... Need Flash? Get it here ]

I see lots of possibilities for this!!!! CHECK THIS OUT (bball, Casey and Nirvana)

OK I stayed up too late and did another... CHECK THIS Out Too (I've changed this to be my actual music site intro)

Oh, by the way, drop me a line and let me know if it dosen't work right for you... (everyone has a different setup (browser, plug ins, etc...))

Well it looks like my scanner bit the dust, but this new flash toy should help ease the pain a little :-) (it's a free 15 day software thing, but it's not real expensive anyway)

www.Pet-Supplies-Online-Resource.com - for low prices and great selections of dog beds, dog collars, cat products, pet doors and more delivered to your home.

Save money with Discount and Color Contact Lenses Now. Be different with color contacts.

www.about-bicycles.com - Getting your bicycle accessories and bicycles online fast allows you more time to get out and enjoy the ride.

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